Bleeding Hearts
by legend1
Summary: Eclipse makes a move on his lovable demon lord and triggers a tidal wave of horrible memories from Raenef's past
1. Default Chapter

Cutting Ties ( Chapter 2 )  
  
"TYPE=PICT;ALT=CuttingTies(Chapter2)"  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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AN: First order of business, the ever important disclaimer! I do not own  
  
demon diary! If I did I would be able to draw more than random stick figures!  
  
Which I can't so I don't so there. Right. Second order of business, I  
  
apologize for any inconsistencies concerning Raenef's appearance. This chapter was  
  
finished by the time I got the second DD, which has a color pic of Raenef's  
  
REAL coloring (ie blonde hair, green eyes.) I had origanally gone by the cover  
  
on the first manga, describing him as having blue hair and blue eyes. I  
  
tried to go back and edit them, but I'm sure there's a few somewhere. Finally.  
  
WARNING! WARNING!WARNING! WARNING!  
  
THERE IS A RAPE SCENE IN THIS CHAPTER, IF YOU AREN'T MATURE ENOUGH TO  
  
HANDLE  
  
IT, OR FOR SOME OTHER REASON CAN'T DEAL WITH THE GRAPHIC SCENES THAT  
  
WILLBE  
  
DEPICTED IN THIS FIC, LEAVE NOW! BE FOREWARNED, ALL FLAMES SHALL BE  
  
LAUGHED  
  
AT, CORRECTED FOR GRAMMER MISTAKES, AND PROMPTLY USED AS FUEL FOR A  
  
BONFIRE WITH  
  
WHICH TO ROAST MY MARSHMELLOWS. I appreciate your attention. For all those  
  
who are mature enough to handle this, feel free to move along to the fic! Ja  
  
ne!  
  
Bleeding Hearts  
  
By: Omnipresent  
  
Chapter One: Shattered Soul  
  
The explosion that ripped through the palace caused Eclipse to stumble  
  
violently, on the way to his rooms. The long-haired demon, normally graceful  
  
and poised even in the worst of situations, lost his footing badly, and fell  
  
into the wall. His robes, swirling and flapping about him, only hindered the  
  
dark-haired demon as he struggled to gain his balance upon the still trembling  
  
ground.  
  
"What the-?" Eclipse whirled the moment he regained he equilibrium,  
  
facing towards the origin on the massive explosion. Everything was hazy, bits of  
  
stone and dust kicked up from the blast that had rocked the massive palace,  
  
and though the dark-eyed demon couldn't see more than a few yards beyond, he  
  
could feel the residue left by the powerful magic that had been cast.  
  
The practice room... I left Raenef there to practice the new spell...  
  
Gods, no!  
  
With but a thought, and a fervently whispering, "Go!" the demon found  
  
himself in the middle of a dust cloud, unable to see beyond his very own nose.  
  
Muttering a few choice curses underneath his breath, murmuring several choice  
  
ones concerning his own stupidity in trusting Raenef alone to learn such a  
  
spell, and then questioning Raenef's intelligence at botching up what should have  
  
been a fairly simple spell, and managing to take half the palace along with  
  
his mistake. Really, the boy had a disturbing ability to cause mayhem and  
  
disaster wherever he went. Which, wouldn't have been at all bad if the mayhem and  
  
disaster had been, in any way intentional, and aimed at humans instead of  
  
either, a)Raenef himself, b) Eclipse, or c) some unfortunate inanimate object  
  
such as the palace that now lay in shambles.  
  
The demon waved at the air around him as the dust began to clear.  
  
Squinting, dark eyes scanned a barely visible surface that had once been the floor  
  
of the room, and was know broken and upturned bits of marble and dirt.  
  
Coughing, the demon moved forward slowly, his eyes searching for that  
  
wild tuft of blond hair that resembled a porcupine, the soft fabrics Raenef wore,  
  
or a pale hand...anything that would reveal the location of his master.  
  
Finally, the dust cleared enough for shapes and forms to become obvious,  
  
and Eclipse's desperate eyes found the target of his frantic search. Raenef  
  
was lying, sprawled a crossed what had been, at one point, the smooth, polished  
  
center of the room. The small boy lay half-turned on his side, his legs and  
  
arms sprawled like some grotesque doll, tossed away carelessly and forgotten.  
  
Eclipse ran forward, kneeling quickly beside the fallen form of his lord  
  
and master. The pale cheeks were smudged with dirt, and a trickle of crimson  
  
ran from a small cut on his temple, where a bruise was rapidly forming upon  
  
pale, pale skin. Eclipse's eyes fell on a nearby rock, a corner of which was  
  
stained blood red. Obviously, it had been what had caused the temple wound to  
  
his young lord.  
  
Eclipse, a demon renowned for his coldheartedness and his ruthlessness,  
  
scooped up the small, yielding body of his lord with a tomoyo gentleness that  
  
would have shocked those who had seen Eclipse during the Hangma War. Eclipse  
  
teleported them both to Raenef's room where the dark-haired man gently de  
  
posited the blonde on his bed. Then the demon went to Raenef's bathroom  
  
where he filled up a bowl with warm water, retrieved several towels, and a small  
  
bottle of disinfectant. Painstakingly, he deposited these items on the bedside  
  
table next to Raenef, and took a seat on the soft, comfortable bed.  
  
For a long moment, Eclipse simply stared  
  
at the unconscious form of Raenef, appraising with a clinical detachment.  
  
Finally, he leaned over, and skilled, nimble fingers began to work at the tiny  
  
buttons that fastened Raenef's shirt closed. The long string of buttons took  
  
several moments to unhitch all the way, and Eclipse had to pull the demon lord  
  
to a sitting position, leaning the blonde hair against his chest in order to  
  
tug the shirt free. He dropped the dirt, torn piece of cloth onto the ground  
  
with a slight grimace. Eclipse had berated the boy he served  
  
countless time, for not being able to pick up his own list. Dropping his dirty  
  
clothes and then leaving them on the floor was perhaps the biggest annoyance he had  
  
often scolded Raenef for. Now, to be contradicting himself by doing the very  
  
thing he often scolded Raenef for, made the dark-haired demon shudder  
  
internally.  
  
Laying Raenef back down on the soft folds of the bed, Eclipse took a  
  
moment to simply stare at the beauty before him. Raenef was truly lovely, Eclipse  
  
thought, stroking a soft curve with a long nailed finger. Even he could  
  
recognize that. The demons hook himself from dangerous thoughts abruptly. Now as  
  
not the time to be thinking such things, he warned himself. Such thoughts  
  
led to places that the dark-haired demons till wasn't entirely sure he wanted to  
  
tread upon quite yet.  
  
Admittedly, Eclipse had notice Raenef's slightly more than  
  
teacher-student relationship with him. The young boy had always worn his heart on his  
  
sleeve, and Eclipse had been noticing more and more frequently the slightly longer  
  
-lasting-then-strictly-necessary-touches that Raenef would bestow upon him.  
  
Not to mention how many times he had caught the pale emerald gaze on him when  
  
the young demon lord had believed Eclipse to not be looking. Eclipse wasn't  
  
entirely sure if even Raenef was aware of the way his feelings towards the man  
  
he called his teacher were maturing, growing, deepening, but more and more  
  
often the dark-haired demon found himself aware of it. Of  
  
course, for a lower being, such as himself, to move against a higher-ranked one,  
  
such as the blond waif he had been teaching, chafed against everything that had  
  
been ingrained in him since he had been a child himself. Protocol demanded  
  
that Eclipse wait until Raenef made an offer, or an appeal of some sort, that was  
  
clear as to what was meant by it. The problem there being, of course,  
  
Eclipse was almost positive Raenef did not know of this rule, let alone, even if he  
  
did, that the blond would be able to act upon it. Sighing, the  
  
dark-haired demon shook himself from his traitorous thoughts, drawing himself  
  
back to the present. The crimson trail, leading from Raenef's temple to some  
  
point hidden within the thick mane of his hair, that had previously glistened  
  
wetly, now reflected light dully, having dried while Eclipse mused to himself  
  
over the complicated tangle his relationship with Raenef was becoming.  
  
Carefully, the dark-haired demon dipped a washcloth in the hot water he had brought  
  
for this very purpose, and leaned over Raenef to press the warm wetness  
  
against the smear of blood, pressing gently until the water did its job and the  
  
blood came away easily, without any unnecessary pulling or tugging.  
  
Eclipse tilted the young demon lord's head to the side as he chased the trail of  
  
crimson down the side of Raenef's face, and finally, to the pale hairline, where  
  
it became impossible for him to do anything about. The normally silky blonde  
  
locks had been loosed in the explosion from their normal confinement, and  
  
were now smeared with dried blood. The hair was now stiff and unyielding.  
  
Eclipse dumped the dirty cloth into the muddy colored water of the bowl  
  
he had brought along with him, and reached for the cream he had brought along  
  
with him. Fingers with the ability to kill, rubbed the lotion in  
  
deftly, making sure that the pale skin absorbed the cream, in order to take full  
  
advantage of its healing powers. The cut, which Eclipse had originally thought  
  
to be small, had turned out to run nearly two inches, once the blood had been  
  
brushed away. The tail end of the wound brushed at the corner of Raenef's eye,  
  
like some sort of eternal tear.  
  
Eclipse stood, cast a last glance at the sleeping demon lord, and began  
  
to clean up his mess. The shirt was beyond repair, a shame really, considering  
  
the example of craftsmanship it was. Then again, Raenef, he knew, had many  
  
more which would serve just as well, Giving the cloth up for a lost cause,  
  
Eclipse tossed it away before cleaning up the supplies he had used to treat  
  
Raenef's head wound.  
  
By the time he finished, admittedly having moved slowly than strictly  
  
necessary, Raenef was, as he had hoped, beginning to stir. The blond demon  
  
murmured something soft in his sleep, small hands grasping at something. Eclipse  
  
couldn't help the reflexive withdrawal of his long hair from the reach of that  
  
grasping fist, before the demon mused at his own paranoia. Finally, those  
  
emerald eyes fluttered open, blinking confusedly. The hugely dilated pupils took  
  
several moments to focus on Eclipse's looming figure. "Eclipse?  
  
What...oops..." Raenef trailed off, a dull flush covering his cheeks at sudden memory  
  
of what had happened.  
  
Eclipse raised an eyebrow, disdainfully, "Oops? What happened? That was  
  
a simple spell! You knocked out the whole training room, and a good portion  
  
of the palace with whatever it was that you did!" The dark-haired demon  
  
shouted at his lord. Raenef quailed as Eclipse's voice increased in volume  
  
until he was shouting at him. "Well.." The blond haired teen fiddled with his  
  
fingers, avoiding looking at Eclipse. "...oops?" he offered, though it  
  
sounded more like a question than an apology. Eclipse sighed at the  
  
quiet word, unable to stay angry when Raenef looked so pitiful. "Just don't  
  
do it again," the dark-haired demon said flatly, rubbing at his temple.  
  
"Okay," Raenef said brightly, throwing himself at Eclipse to hug him. Eclipse  
  
stumbled, off balance from the sudden surge of weight, however slight it was.  
  
The dark-haired demon hesitated momentarily before wrapping his arms around  
  
the small form, holding tightly. What is this feeling? he wondered,  
  
absently, questioning the sudden rush of warmth he felt. The demon sighed, and  
  
let his head fall to rest gently on the one below it. Anyone  
  
watching from afar, through the massive window in Raenef's wall, perhaps, would have  
  
seen two figures, one as dark as night, the other as pale as day, clutching  
  
at each other so closely that even two things as opposite as light and dark  
  
seemed to be able to merge together.  
  
*********  
  
Of course, as fate would have it, two very such watchers existed. The  
  
two figures, both of similar height, coloring, and build, were standing in the  
  
moonlit courtyard that offered a view straight into the large windows in  
  
Raenef's room. Erutis watched in amusement as Chris gaped openly.  
  
The young knight grinned faintly, walking over to a nearby stone bench,  
  
and sitting down. The bench, as many other statues and ornaments scattered  
  
throughout the garden, were decorated with detailed sculptures of demons, famous  
  
war victories, any other such things. It was damn creepy, Erutis thought,  
  
eying one of the heads that protruded from either end of the bench upon which she  
  
sat.  
  
The knight turned her attention back to Chris when he made a vague sound  
  
of aversion, and turned quickly away from the rather touching scene. Erutis  
  
raised an eyebrow at the distressed look the young cleric was wearing.  
  
"What?"  
  
Chris favored her with a scornful look, and, a faint blush. The boy  
  
waved a vague hand towards the window behind him. "That!" he snapped, looking  
  
embarrassed. Erutis gave him a very sardonic look. "That," she  
  
repeated, turning her eyes towards the window through which Eclipse, a demon who  
  
was famous for his wrath, a wrath she herself had experienced, was embracing the  
  
easily seen, much small form of Raenef, the idiotic demon lord. The knight  
  
tilted her head, looking for a better angle of the embrace. Who'da ever  
  
guessed? the girl thought, grinning faintly. That bastard really does have a  
  
heart. Thank god. Those two have been making eyes at each other for  
  
practically as long as I've been here.  
  
"Yes!" Chris snapped impatiently, waving his hand in agitation, "THAT!"  
  
"That," Erutis said, nodding her head in the direction to which  
  
Chris was pointing with such irritation, "is cute. In fact, it's rather  
  
romantic," she said with a dreamy sigh. The knight nearly snickered as  
  
the cleric's mouth dropped open as the boy gaped openly at her. "What? Cute?  
  
Urgh. That's...revolting. Besides, they're men," he said, in a way that  
  
made one think he believed she's missed that, never mind the months she'd spent  
  
here. "Really now? You  
  
know, I hadn't noticed that," she said sarcastically, watching Chris' obvious  
  
fury at her mockery of him. "So what if they're men? I mean, seriously, have  
  
you ever looked at Eclipse? He's hot. And Raenef's just pretty. He's  
  
prettier than I am, and I'm a girl. Anyway, they're cute together. Strange  
  
maybe, but cute." The young knight shrugged, and shifted so she could lay back on  
  
the stone bench. She shielded her eyes with an arm, squinting  
  
up at the sky. The moon hung heavy and low in the sky, startlingly bright.  
  
"Sky's pretty tonight," she offered, not wanting to continue with that  
  
particular vein anymore. Especially if Chris was just going to whine about the fact  
  
that they were both guys.  
  
Erutis couldn't' help but wonder what it was about most of the men that  
  
she had met that seemed to make them incapable of understanding, when talking  
  
about same-sex relationships. If people loved each other, than it shouldn't  
  
matter. Chris blinked, tilting his head back to look up at the  
  
sky. "Yeah. It is. Good night for star observation." The young cleric took  
  
a seat on the stone marble that paved the whole outside courtyard. "I miss my  
  
master. I still can't believe he sent me here." He scuffed his foot  
  
against the marble in anger.  
  
"Mmm," Erutis said, a noncommittal tone. "I didn't like it here at  
  
first much, either. But you know, Raenef's pretty fun once you get used to him.  
  
It's great to watch Eclipse yell at him when he does something stupid. How  
  
that pathetic kid is ever gonna be a demon lord, I have no idea. Then again,  
  
maybe it's a good thing."  
  
Chris frowned in thought at the comments made by the knight. Vaguely  
  
whispered prophecies about those who would have the power to breech the hostility  
  
that gripped both the Gods and the Demons. A prophecy that spoke of a demon  
  
lord who would be the first step for this bridging, and of a cleric under the  
  
great god Rased.  
  
Could it be him? Can it be me? Dark eyes turned to the now empty  
  
window. Well, it's certainly more likely to be him than any other demon I've ever  
  
heard about.  
  
**************  
  
"...by doing so, you  
  
will allow your magic to-" Eclipse broke off abruptly at a quiet sigh  
  
breathed from parted lips. The dark-haired demon glanced at his liege. azure eyes  
  
were half-lidded, staring vacantly at the wall a crossed from them. Eclipse  
  
frowned, "-turn into a giant, bouncing tomato..."  
  
"Mm-hmm," Raenef said, absently, nodding faintly.  
  
"The knight has been annoying me as of late, lord. Would you mind if I  
  
disposed of her?" Eclipse asked flatly.  
  
"Mmmm," came the faint agreement. Eclipse slammed shut  
  
the book he was carrying, watching closely for any sign of reaction from  
  
Raenef. There wasn't even a twitch. The blond kept staring at the wall, with the  
  
same remote fascination. Scowling, the dark-haired demon walked over to stand  
  
just behind the chair Raenef was occupying. He leaned down to put his lips  
  
just beside Raenef's ear, and opened his mouth to yell when Raenef blinked,  
  
jerking awake from his day dream.  
  
Idle thoughts were swimming through Raenef's head. The soft, even tone  
  
of Eclipse's voice was making him sleepy, and the demon lord dropped his head  
  
on his hand, half closing his eyes in relaxation, not paying any attention  
  
whatsoever to Eclipse's spiel about magic.  
  
The demon lord made vague sounds of agreement when appropriate, and let  
  
his thoughts focus on a subject that Raenef spent most of his time thinking  
  
about: Eclipse. Raenef's thoughts summoned up an image of the forbidding demon  
  
who had been his teacher for nearly a year now. Long, silky black hair tumbled  
  
over his shoulders, whipping in a nonexistent wind, dark eyes deep with some  
  
unfathomable meaning. Eclipse was so regal looking, and  
  
handsome. The dark-haired demon was tall, and fine boned, and graceful and strong.  
  
Everything that Raenef himself wasn't. Every time the young demon found  
  
himself staring into a mirror at wild, pale hair, green eyes, and his small form,  
  
he found it laughable that Eclipse could ever be attracted to him in return.  
  
Not to mention, that Raenef was clumsy, and not a good demon lord at all. He  
  
could barely handle crushing flies, let alone reign in terror and destruction  
  
as he was supposed to. The blonde haired waif knew all too well how much of an  
  
embarrassment he was to Eclipse. Hadn't the other demons called Raenef a  
  
"clown?" What was worse, was that they had pitied Eclipse for being saddled  
  
with such a miserable excuse for a demon lord. Raenef sighed  
  
unhappily. Eclipse was completely unattainable for one such as himself. The  
  
young demon didn't know when Eclipse had transformed from teacher to crush, but  
  
he remembered precisely the day it had happened. It was at the Rased Temple,  
  
just when Eclipse had been about to leave. The dark-haired demon had held out  
  
his hand, placing it gently on top of his own pale hair, ruffling the untamed  
  
blond locks affectionately. Then, the seemingly impossible had happened.  
  
Eclipse, a demon famed for his brutality and ruthlessness, had smiled.  
  
Raenef could picture the moment in his mind with the sort of obsessive  
  
exactness that only comes to someone head over heels in love with the image of  
  
their interest. It hadn't been a small smile, barely tugging at the corners of  
  
the demon''s mouth. It had been a full-blown, lips curved, dark, fathomless  
  
eyes lighting up in amusement and some other emotion that Raenef couldn't  
  
quite identify.  
  
That smile had made his heart leap about three feet in the air. It had  
  
caused some wave of unknown emotion to roll through him, causing him to feel  
  
warm and shivery inside, like the time after the particularly good catch in the  
  
guild when he had had his very first experience with alcohol. Wine, some  
  
particularly good sort, was the only thing he could imagine that was comparable to  
  
that beautiful smile. The only thing that had ever caused him to feel hot  
  
and shuddery and weak was alcohol. It was a shame Eclipse didn't smile more.  
  
After that, Raenef found himself watching the man he had come to call his  
  
teacher, more and more and more. Then one day, the realization came to him  
  
with a suddenness that took his breath away and made him feel weak and  
  
quivering, as if he been struck with a sledgehammer. Touma, one of his comrades in  
  
the Guild, had described such feelings once. They had been for the girl he had  
  
later left the Guild for, to marry, because...he loved her.  
  
Raenef remembered being utterly astonished at the sudden realization. He  
  
hadn't had a clue, up until then, that his feelings had changed for his  
  
mentor, from simple platonic student/teacher...to something deeper, and far more  
  
profound. Though really, it was rather unfortunate that the revelation had come  
  
at such an unfavorable time as magic practice. The young demon had nearly  
  
blown up the room before Eclipse had managed to stop the badly misdone spell.  
  
The young demon winced as he recalled the expression on Eclipse's face. The  
  
demon had not been at all happy with his lord and master. So, in  
  
conclusion, the young demon though unhappily, we consider my standings as of yet  
  
with the man I am in love with. On the bad side, I have demeaned Eclipse  
  
horribly in front of anyone and everyone who counts. I have proven myself to be  
  
an embarrassment to his skills as a teacher. I am the most unprofessional and  
  
complete contradiction to what a demon lord should be. I have made a  
  
complete and utter fool of myself in front of his countless of times. I am an an  
  
idiot of magnificent proportions. Not to mention I'm a small, skinny little runt  
  
with porcupine like hair, and muddy-green sort of eyes. And, worst yet, I'm  
  
a kid. Although, on the good side, and at this Raenef brightened  
  
considerably, I have...well...let's see now, there has to be something...  
  
uh...er...hmm.......oh, this isn't good...WAIT! I HAVE it! I got Eclipse to smile at me!  
  
That counts for something. A small part of his mind spoke up. What if he was  
  
laughing at you? Raenef told his brain to shut up unless  
  
it wanted him to start paying attention to Eclipse's speech on magic theory.  
  
It did, rather hurriedly. Raenef quickly lost himself in a  
  
lovely daydream where Eclipse loved him back, and they were talking and  
  
laughing and-oh, well, that was rather odd, the young boy though in startlement at a  
  
sudden, damp breath against his neck. Having always been rather ticklish,  
  
the young demon lord shuddered, twisting away slightly, annoyed at having been  
  
jerked roughly from that lovely daydream... Startled green eyes found  
  
themselves staring at the object of their admiration.  
  
Eclipse's face loomed in his vision, and Raenef gulped at the expression  
  
the demon wore. Then emerald eyes found themselves locked on Eclipse's lips,  
  
remembering a beautiful smile...  
  
Eclipse flinched slightly as his student jerked free from his daydream,  
  
twisting to stare at him. Barely an inch separated their faces. Startled at finding  
  
himself in a suddenly very compromising situation with not only a superior,  
  
but a young boy at that, the demon prepared to step back, distancing himself, wh  
  
en he realized something quite astonishing. Vivid eyes, the same intense  
  
emerald green as the stone, were staring at him with wide eyes. Not even him,  
  
necessarily, but, more accurately, his lips. Was that a faint blush he detected  
  
on his young master's cheeks? Eclipse mused, thoughtfully, that really, such  
  
a blush didn't necessarily mean what his body was suddenly hoping it did...  
  
Raenef could be embarrassed to have discovered himself in such a position with  
  
his teacher. A perfectly logical explanation, if it weren't for the ever so  
  
slightly dilated pupils, and the pink tounge that slipped out to wet soft  
  
lips.  
  
Oh, now that wasn't fair at all, young master...the demon thought, with a  
  
sigh. Ah, well...I really shouldn't, and yet... A brain honed by years of  
  
training and protocol, fought a desperate battle with a too-long denied body,  
  
and a much quieter, though just as withheld, even more so, heart. Needless to  
  
say, the two vessels that exist purely to serve the purposes of passion and  
  
lust and love, won.  
  
Eclipse leaned in, capturing Raenef's lips with his own. They were warm,  
  
and soft, and by the gods, the powerful demon wanted nothing more than to  
  
throw his lord down on Raenef's massive bed and introduce the all too innocent  
  
boy to the wonders of pleasure. It only helped that Raenef was so damn  
  
submissive. The small body pressed against Eclipse's was so pliant, and  
  
fragile, and completing unresisting. A small, frightened sound drew Eclipse sharply  
  
from his wandering thoughts. The arms around his shoulders, which he had  
  
originally assumed to be grasping, were far too tight for that, he realized  
  
suddenly. Raenef's hands were clenched tightly onto Eclipse's shoulders, his  
  
fingers digging into the muscles of his back so tightly, it made him wince. Those  
  
hands were not, as he had thought, trying to draw him near. They were trying  
  
to push him away. The dark-haired demon drew back abruptly at  
  
that realization. Onyx eyes stared into wide, terrified, azure ones. Tears  
  
began to drip down from eyes of the same color. Raenef was trembling  
  
violently, and the moment Eclipse had drawn back, he had wrapped his arms  
  
tightly around himself. It were as though he was trying to shield himself from  
  
the older demon's advances. Eclipse blinked,  
  
startled, and reached forward to wipe at the tears coursing down Raenef's face  
  
with a long nailed finger. The young demon lord jerked away from even that  
  
touch, stumbling backwards until he ran into the wall behind him.  
  
Eclipse stopped dead where he stood, dropping his arm. What?  
  
He's..afraid of me? No, more like terrified. But why? I only kissed him, and it  
  
certainly hasn't been thatlong since I've played the game that I read too much  
  
into the signs. No, he's certainly interested in me. Then again, this is  
  
Raenef we're talking about here. I suppose it's possible that he didn't mean to  
  
give off the signs he was. But still, that doesn't explain the utter fear...  
  
Raenef whimpered, sinking down the wall weakly, trembling violently.  
  
"Don't...don't touch me, don't come near me...leave me ALONE!" he shouted,  
  
breaking off into sobs. Eclipse stared at the sobbing demon lord. By the  
  
gods...what on earth? What could have happened to him to make him so.... "What  
  
happened to you?" Eclipse demanded, not moving any closer to the blue haired  
  
boy. "No!" Raenef said, forcefully. "No, no, no, no,  
  
no! Stop it, just leave me alone!" "Raenef, you must tell me, what  
  
happened-" "How-how DARE you admonish ME VER-ver-ver-"  
  
Raenef couldn't quite get out the words through his broken sobs.  
  
Eclipse stalked over to his master. For once, he refused to  
  
obey the laws that should have governed master and servant. Hadn't Raenef  
  
told him, countless of times, to ignore those laws? Eclipse knelt before  
  
Raenef's trembling form, gathering the struggling form into his arms.  
  
Eclipse brushed at the pale hair, stroking Raenef's back, gently.  
  
"Shhh..." The gestures, meant to be comforting, only seemed to make Raenef even  
  
more distraught. Eclipse grimaced, and made a quick decision before things got  
  
out of hand. Raenef was trembling even more violently then before, and  
  
looked as though he were going to fall apart any moment. The powerful demon hadn't  
  
wanted to, but he obviously wasn't going to be getting any more answers out  
  
of Raenef, who was cowering and whimpering loudly.  
  
The dark haired demon brushed Raenef's mind with his own. Trained in  
  
using telepathy, Eclipse had also been trained to be able to take that ability  
  
one step further. When he needed to, he could enter another's mind, their  
  
thoughts, and discover what they would not tell him. He hesitated to use it, most  
  
especially with Raenef. It was, above all else, one of the horrible betrayals  
  
of trust possible. However, it was either that, or, he had a feeling, that  
  
whatever trust the two shared would be shattered anyway. At the very least,  
  
the dark haired demon wished to know precisely what it was that had caused  
  
Raenef to be so afraid of him.  
  
Raenef, at the first brush of Eclipse's mind against his own, tensed. It  
  
felt similar to when Eclipse contacted him through telepathy, but, instead of  
  
stopping, the other demon's mind pressed forward, insistently. Raenef felt  
  
his mind pushing back against the intrusion, before a sharp shudder, and then  
  
Eclipse was surging forward, deeply, so very deeply into his thoughts.  
  
Raenef screamed, shuddering, struggling to fight that horrible intrusion  
  
into his deepest thoughts. Eclipse held him, tightly within the circle of the  
  
dark-haired demon's arms, and Raenef found himself unable to escape. Still,  
  
his mentor pressed continuously forward, searching for that horrible memory  
  
Raenef refused to speak of, even now, so many years later.  
  
"NO!" Raenef howled. Eclipse was so close. So horribly close to that  
  
memory. It had been so long, and Raenef had buried it so deep he could almost  
  
forget it entirely. Eclipse was going to find that memory, and he was going  
  
to Raenef remember every single, horrible moment.  
  
His lord was sobbing now, his entire frame wracked by cries as he fought  
  
Eclipse's grasp, the dark haired demon thought. At the first probe, Raenef's  
  
mind had resisted, but as he continued to pressure it, Raenef had been unable  
  
to keep him out. Now, Eclipse was moving steadily deeper, working his way  
  
into Raenef's deepest, most hidden thoughts. He moved quickly past the less  
  
meaningful, though still interesting, ones. Memories of Raenef's life, growing  
  
up, on the streets, memories, of fights, of looking for food... Finally  
  
though, Eclipse came to it.  
  
It felt...different than any other thought or memory he had encountered.  
  
Despite his generally unpleasant life, all of his thoughts were colored with  
  
hope, and a happiness that was so like Raenef. This thought, however, was so  
  
dark, so angry, Eclipse shuddered at the waves of dark emotions emanating from  
  
it.  
  
Eclipse probed the tangled weave of thoughts, shuddering slightly as he  
  
slid slowly through the tight shield that surrounded the memory. Whatever this  
  
memory was, it was so awful that Raenef had built a heavy shield around it,  
  
closing it off from the rest of his mind so he would never again have to  
  
remember it.  
  
Eclipse hesitated before the final remains of the shield Raenef had  
  
surrounded the memory with. Raenef gave a final, desperate, howl of pain. "No!  
  
Nononononononono...I don't want to remember! Stop it, stop it now!  
  
Pleasepleasepleasedon'tmakemeremember!" The demon lord tried for a desperate, final  
  
lunge out of Eclipse's arms, fighting frantically. Eclipse tightened his grip  
  
even more, grimacing inwardly as he felt his sharp nails digging through soft  
  
fabric, and into delicate skin. With a final, sharp thrust of his mind, Eclipse  
  
penetrated the memory fully. Raenef went abruptly still in the older demon's  
  
grasp, gasping as the memory was exposed to Eclipse fully.  
  
Eclipse shuddered as he was immersed in Raenef's memory, completely.  
  
Thoughts, feelings, sounds...everything that Raenef had felt were suddenly as  
  
open to Eclipse, as if he were the one experiencing them.  
  
He was running. His feet were bare, and he could feel the grime of the  
  
streets under them. Occasionally he would step on sharp glass, but even that  
  
sharp pain wasn't enough to make him stop running. Adrenaline was surging through  
  
him, giving him the strength to keep going when otherwise, he might have  
  
stopped.  
  
His lungs burned with the effort to keep going, and he was so tired. It  
  
had been so long since he'd eaten something halfway decent, and his body was  
  
so tired. He made the mistake of turning around, just for a second, just to  
  
see if maybe, on the last couple of turns, he'd lost them. It was his mistake.  
  
The board, a two by four, came out of nowhere, slamming into him with enough  
  
force to make him pass out.  
  
When he came to, they were all standing over him. Genji, their leader,  
  
was holding a board in his beefy hands, and it took him a second longer to  
  
realize that it was smeared with his blood. His whole gang was grinning down at  
  
him, smirking, some chuckling. Genji smirked at him, showing of a gap-toothed  
  
grin, and brown teeth. "So, we finally caught up to you, huh, devil child."  
  
His stomach rolled with fear. He wanted to throw up.  
  
Genji leaned over him, so close he could smell his foul breath, and smacked  
  
the board menacingly against one large palm. "You're pretty good at hiding,  
  
you know that? You keep managing to get by us. Not this time though. Can't  
  
have a rotten little runt like yourself making me and my gang look bad. People  
  
were starting to talk, sayings we couldn't catch one little good for nothin'  
  
demon child, how could we run our side o' town prop'ly. Can't let shit like  
  
that get `roun, now can we?" A sweaty hand tangled in the front of the  
  
massively oversized shirt he wore.  
  
He was abruptly lifted off his feet. He dangled from Genji's hold, held  
  
nearly a foot above the ground. Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no.... The thought,  
  
looping continuously, kept running through his mind. Genji was going to kill  
  
him.  
  
"Hmm...." Genji commented with a smirk, as he stared at his smaller,  
  
helpless prey. "Whatcha think we should do with `im, guys?" the leader asked.  
  
His followers started grinning, laughing as they watched him shiver  
  
helplessly in Genji's grasp. One, off to the side, was watching with a  
  
particularly predatory gaze. His name was Gareth, and he was Genji's right hand man.  
  
"Hmm...such a pretty boy, dontcha think. Maybe we should have a little fun,  
  
first?" He grinned, licking his lips.  
  
"No, please, no...please...let me go...please," he gasped out, frantic  
  
now. Living on the streets nearly all his life had caused him to learn a lot  
  
of things. The way Gareth was looking at him right now was one of the most  
  
frightening things he had learned through all those years. He had seen that look  
  
all too often, in his years on the street. There was no denying that he was  
  
pretty, more feminine looking than male, even. Better yet, he was small.  
  
Years of malnourishment had stunted his growth. The ideal uke. He  
  
couldn't help the tears that began to well up, and spilled from azure eyes down  
  
dirty cheeks, giving them the first washing they'd had in weeks.  
  
Genji blinked, glancing at his struggling burden with a now critical eye.  
  
"You know, that's not such a bad idea, now that I think about it, Gareth. He's  
  
a pretty one, he is. Looks `lot like a girl. Betcha he'll scream like a  
  
virgin..."  
  
Genji dropped him abruptly to the dirty ground. He gasped at the pain,  
  
and made a last, desperate effort to get to his feet, to run...to do something,  
  
anything-!The sharp kick to his ribs left him seeing spots, struggling for  
  
breath. Then there were so many hands on him. They tore at his clothes.  
  
They weren't gentle, on the contrary, they were harsh, trying to cause as much  
  
pain as possible.  
  
All too soon, he was shivering, naked, bared completely to their hungry  
  
gazes. A low, keening whimper rose up from his throat. Pale hands scrabbled  
  
at the dirty ground as he struggle to sit up, bracing himself with his elbows,  
  
trying to get away. He shuffled backwards, straight into the legs of one of  
  
the gang. No, oh god, please, no, no, no, no...Help me, someone, anybody, help  
  
me... Genji grabbed a hold of his foot, despite  
  
his frantic attempts to kick, and hauled him backwards towards the gang  
  
leader. Fire raced up his back, stinging with pain as soft skin was torn roughly  
  
by the dirty streets. "Ah!" He arched, trying to get the stinging flesh away  
  
from the source of its pain.  
  
"None of that now," Genji crooned, licking his lips. "You area pretty  
  
one." Saliva flecked his fat, bloated lips. Bile rose, deep within, and  
  
he gagged, sick suddenly as he watched, horrified, at the path massive, beefy  
  
hands took. Genji unzipped his pants, and took his already half-hard member  
  
out. He watched, with wide, horrified eyes as Genji stroked himself roughly.  
  
His member stiffened, grower larger as squinty eyes took in the pale, lovely  
  
form displayed before him.  
  
He lunged, frantic now. His back stung horribly, but he ignored it.  
  
Terror had overcome everything. "Hold him!" someone shouted. Several pairs of  
  
hands yanked at him, forcing him onto his back, holding his arms down. He  
  
couldn't move, he couldn't move! Genji knelt before him, and he could feel  
  
a foreign, unfamiliar sensation as Genji pressed his dick against his  
  
cleft. A sound of denial, choked, came spilling from his lips as he thrashed  
  
against the hands that held him. Genji grunted, undeterred by the fight. In  
  
fact, it seemed to only arouse him more. His large, meaty hands clapped down on  
  
pale, slender, kicking legs, forcing them apart, forcing them open.  
  
He started to cry. Genji  
  
frowned, in annoyance, and brought a sweat palm up to cup his face. Huge lips, wet  
  
with saliva, pressed against his own. A swollen tounge worked its way inside  
  
his mouth, forcing his lips apart. He nearly choked at the sudden, unexpected  
  
invasion. A last resort, he bit hard.  
  
It was a mistake. Genji drew  
  
back with a howl, flecks of blood now mingling with the saliva on his mouth. He  
  
snarled, low in his throat, and cuffed him so hard he slammed into the hard  
  
ground below him. Pain exploded in his skull as his head slammed into the  
  
pavement. Spots spun before him, everything spinning, the alleyway, the men.  
  
Dazed, able to feel his own blood coating the back of his head, he struggled back  
  
to awareness. And wished he hadn't.  
  
The blow made him cry out. The harsh sobs coming from him barely had  
  
a chance to get going when they were cut off abruptly with a sharp scream of  
  
agony as Genji shoved inside his dry, unprepared and virginal passage. Agony  
  
tore through his every nerve, screaming throughout his whole body. He felt  
  
like he was being torn apart. While Genji's member was not exceptionally large,  
  
he was so very small, and Genji was not at all trying to be gentle. Genji  
  
didn't even pause, let alone give him time to adjust to the horribly foreign  
  
presence deep within him. The gang leader grinned wolfishly at the shriek,  
  
growing even harder at the sound of pain, and began thrusting even more heavily.  
  
Faster, harder, deeper.  
  
The heavy shoves continued, and the agony built and built. He started  
  
screaming seconds into the thrusting. It hurt so badly, his passage ached, stinging.  
  
It had long since canceled out the pain in his back, which now seemed minor  
  
to this new, searing agony. Everything began to fade away, until it was only  
  
Genji, hovering above him, his whole body slamming forward with every sharp,  
  
penetrating thrust, saliva spewing forth from his mouth, and falling onto him.  
  
Finally, after what had surely been an eternity, though his rational mind  
  
knew to only have been a minute of so, Genji shuddered to a halt, thrust  
  
once, twice, and, feeling the horrible thing inside him twitch, came. The salty  
  
cum lit new fires of pain in his burning, raw passage, and a new howl was torn  
  
from his overused throat.  
  
Someone was laughing, harshly, in the background.  
  
Genji shivered, thrusting a few more times, rhythmically as his seed poured  
  
from him, and finally, withdrew. The sudden, sharp withdrawal hurt horribly.  
  
Panting, the gang leader stood up, put himself back in his pants, and  
  
rebuckled the belt. Gareth took his turn next. His entry was made only  
  
slightly more bearable by the fact that his own blood, and Genji's cum, had  
  
lubricated his passage somewhat. That, and Genji had stretched him more than he  
  
had been. Gareth, had far more stamina than  
  
Genji, and seemed to take particular pleasure in drawing out the torture.  
  
Several times, just before he was going to cum, he would slow, and stop, waiting for  
  
a few moments before he started again. As if that wasn't bad enough, he  
  
seemed to have decided, midway through that he wasn't as terrified as he should  
  
have been. He was mostly correct. His awareness of reality had dimmed to pain,  
  
and thrusting. Gareth had switched positions, dragging him up so he was  
  
sitting up on his knees, and had taken him that way. Then, he had commanded  
  
one of the gang members to come forward, and drop there pants. He was forced to  
  
suck him off, as tears dripped down his swollen cheeks, and onto the dick he  
  
was sucking. They only seemed to find it funny. Eventually, everyone took  
  
their turn, in every way possible. It was hours before the last one finally  
  
dragged himself off his trembling form, and tucked himself back inside his  
  
pants.  
  
A few sharp kicks, and they left, leaving him lying there on the hard,  
  
cold ground, blood and cum dripping out from between his legs, and tears  
  
trickling from tightly closed eyes. He wretched, helplessly onto the ground, what  
  
little food that he had. When he ran out of that, he dry hacked bile until he  
  
was shaking so badly that he nearly choked.  
  
For a long time, too long to count, he simply lay there in a pool of semen and of own blood and  
  
watched the sky turn slowly, from the soft blue of day, to the pastel colors of sunset, and finally,  
  
to the midnight black sprinkled with white, of night. As he lay, his eyes trained on the heavens,  
  
praying to the gods above for something, anything,he could feel the fluids on him drying,  
  
cooling...  
  
Slowly, the sharp freshness of the pain began to fade, replaced instead by faint, trembling aches that  
  
made him wince with every breath. His skin and  
  
muscles pulled with every inhalation and exhalation he took. He couldn't summon the energy to move,  
  
even as the temperature dropped rapidly. He realized, with a disturbing lack of care, that he didn't want  
  
to move. All he wanted to do was to lay there until...  
  
It was the voices, that finally drew him from his apathetic thoughts. At  
  
first, they were just vague, indiscernable murmurs, and he was only just able  
  
to differentiate them from the sounds of the town around him. Slowly though,  
  
they gray until it became clear that they were indeed voices. More  
  
importantly, voices that were growing steadily louder and louder...  
  
What if Genji's gang had returned?  
  
Sick terror filled him, and his body fought his mind, momentarily, both battling for dominance. His body  
  
was screaming with pain at every move he made, but his mind was howling at him to go, go, go, go,  
  
go....  
  
His mind, and his sense of self-preservation, hammered into him by life  
  
on the streets, finally won.  
  
It didn't matter, for by the time he was finally able to force himself to begin to crawl away from the  
  
place of his rape, he couldn't do anything but crawl, and even that hurt, the source of the voices were  
  
upon him.  
  
Wide, terrified azure eyes fell on a pair of scuffed, well-worn boots.  
  
Slowly, blue eyes traveled up the cloth--covered leg accompanying the boots,  
  
to the chest bared by a vest, and finally, into a startled face. A long,  
  
jagged scar ran down the right side of the tough, ruggedly handsome face. It was a face framed by wild,  
  
scraggly hair that was the pale blonde of most of the  
  
people in the southern region, hair that was tamed only by the bandanna wrapped tightly around the  
  
young man's hair.  
  
"What the-" came the surprised words from the boy who he was staring at.  
  
Another vice, just behind him, echoed a startled curse of disgust as  
  
revolted eyes took in the all too obvious, telltale scene around them.  
  
Whimpering, he drew back, trying to curl himself into a ball,  
  
no longer caring what happened to him. He wanted to die, wanted to get away  
  
from this horrible place... Wanted to do anything so long as he could forget  
  
this night, never remember it again.  
  
The crunching of gravel met his ears, and he could feel a presence bending over him. "Hey there, kid....  
  
`M not  
  
gonna hurt you..." The hand laid on his trembling shoulder was gentle.  
  
"..Doesn't look to good...."  
  
"Who the hell would...?"  
  
"...he's tiny..."  
  
The voices were murmuring around him, but that gentle hand, so unlike Genji's compelled him to look  
  
up into dark, kind eyes. "C'mon, kid, come with me. I'm a thief, leader of the Guild. We won't let  
  
whoever did this to you  
  
anywhere near you again... We'll protect you..."  
  
For the first time in his life, he knew he could trust what this  
  
thief was telling him. He nodded, ever so hesitantly. Someone stepped  
  
forward, offering up a spare piece of clothing, and the boy with the bandanna  
  
wrapped it around him securely before picking him up...  
  
Eclipse gasped his way out of the memory, shoving his  
  
way out of Raenef's mind none to gently. The dark-haired demon was far too  
  
frantic to leave that memory far, far behind to gather his wits enough to be  
  
gentle.  
  
The mind he withdrew from, sharply, was a  
  
chaotic mess. Doubts swirled, with vague, distorted images of the rape  
  
Raenef had undergone. The blue-haired demon lord lay in his arms, eyes tightly  
  
clenched, tears trailing from beneath the lashes. His fingers were knotted into  
  
Eclipse's robes so tightly the fabric had torn. Raenef's small body was  
  
shaking, torn, wracked by frantic, desperate sobs. Occasionally, a scream would  
  
rip free from his throat. They sounded raw. He must, Eclipse realized  
  
vaguely, have been screaming the whole time I was reliving that...memory...  
  
The dark-haired demon felt sick. While in someone's mind, he  
  
could feel their emotions as though they were his own. He could feel their  
  
thoughts, their pain, as if he were experiencing it. It was only because of many  
  
years of practice, that he was able to calm himself down, forcing his thoughts  
  
into order, shielding them. Raenef, who did not have that practice, nor his  
  
experience, and who the memory had belonged to, was still thrashing, and  
  
screaming. Eclipse felt slightly ill as he realized that he himself had shattered  
  
the protective shield Raenef had wrapped the memory in, and now, without that  
  
shield, the young demon lord was being forced to remember it without any sort  
  
of protection.  
  
"Raenef! Lord Raenef!" Eclipse shook the small body, trying to get a  
  
reaction out of the distraught demon. "It's not real! It's just a memory!  
  
It's not-" Eclipse recoiled with a grimace as a tightly curled fist struck  
  
out at him.  
  
Raenef tried to scramble away. "Stop  
  
it! Stop it! Leave me alone! Stop touching me! Ow! It hurts! It hurts!  
  
Stop it, godamn you, STOP IT!"  
  
The demon lord was not, he realized, even remotely aware of what was  
  
happening. He was reliving the memory again and again, as though it were the  
  
present. Eclipse reached hand out, cupping the sweaty forehead with long, slender fingers. The sleep  
  
spell, the most powerful he knew, worked immediately, despite Raenef's frantic state. Between one  
  
curse and the next, the blue-haired demon fell silent. The harsh, ragged breathing slowed, deepened,  
  
the tightly clenched fists relaxed. Moon-shaped crescents had been dug into the soft, pale skin of his  
  
palms. Blood streaked from the indentions, leaving trails on his shirt.  
  
Eclipse stared at the relaxed face, stunned beyond belief. I wish I would never have looked. I  
  
didn't...didn't expect that. I didn't want to see that. Gods. How...how could...  
  
Eclipse's hand clenched into a slow, tight fist, curling until the long  
  
nails dug in so deep he could feel warm wetness cascading down from his palms.  
  
I'll kill them, he thought venomously. I'll track every last  
  
one of them down, and I'll kill them. I'll make sure it's as painful and  
  
degrading for them as it was for him.  
  
Eclipse leaned over, to place a gentle kiss on the sweat slicked forehead. "I'm so sorry, I wouldn't have  
  
done that had I known." Eclipse felt truly, truly guilty. It was not a very pleasant sensation. He had  
  
known, when he had entered Raenef's mind with Raenef unwilling, that whatever memory it was, it  
  
couldn't have been pleasant.  
  
He'd had no idea of the magnitude though.  
  
The dark-haired demon got to his feet, cradling Raenef's small form to  
  
his chest protectively. With ease born of long practice, the demon teleported  
  
to Raenef's room with but a thought and a quietly spoken, "Go." Carefully,  
  
gently, he laid his lord on the bed, and covered him with the blankets.  
  
Raenef lay quietly, completely still, held deeply  
  
within the grasp of the sleep spell that Eclipse had administered. His blond  
  
hair hung limply around his face, pooling onto the blankets. Somewhere along  
  
the way, the band that normally held his hair in a ponytail, up and away from  
  
his face, had fallen out. The pale strands were slightly tangled. Absently,  
  
Eclipse leaned forward, toying with the errant strands of hair in an attempt  
  
to untangle them. Raenef's face was tear stained.  
  
Eclipse felt the anger, that had slowly been calming, rise again. I will  
  
kill them. The dark-haired demon paced the room in barely contained anger.  
  
How dare humans attack a demon lord. Filthy bastards.  
  
Eclipse stood, and began to pace. Thankfully, the room was large  
  
enough to accommodate his long strides. The concept of rape was not foreign  
  
to him. As a demon, he had certainly heard of things, known of them, even  
  
turned a blind eye to them, on a few occasions. But, he had never participated  
  
in such an event, nor had he ever been a victim himself.  
  
Until now, it had not bothered him. They were  
  
demons, and demons were superior to humans. If a demon wished to take pleasure from  
  
a human, most especially an unwilling one, that was perfectly understandable.  
  
It was their job, their right, even, as a demon. Never before, though, had  
  
the dark-haired demon experienced, first hand, a rape.  
  
Pain, anger, sadness, terror, fear, desperation, sorrow, degradation, guilt... The emotions, Raenef's  
  
emotions, swept through him. Eclipse shivered slightly, at the tumult of feelings, not his own, washed  
  
over him.  
  
To think, that he had once condoned such actions... Never again! he  
  
promised himself. Most certainly, never, ever again. It's not right. Even if  
  
they are humans. To think, that humans did such a thing to Raenef, of all  
  
people.  
  
The pale-haired demon lord was so...innocent, and  
  
kind. It was ridiculous, really. Everyone knew demons were evil, enjoyed  
  
pillaging, destruction, inspiring terror and fear... Raenef was a complete  
  
contradiction to stereo typically accepted demon lord.  
  
But, how could he have stayed so nice...so kind...after that? And not just that... Other memories,  
  
ones he had only been able to brush, briefly, on his journey through Raenef's mind to his final  
  
destination that had turned out to be a brutal rape.  
  
Devil child!...Demon spawn...filthy beast...disgusting creature...runt... The insults prickled at him as  
  
though it were he they were being flung at.  
  
Normally, he wouldn't have felt such petty things, but because he was experiencing them as Raenef had,  
  
they hurt. Raenef had felt each, and every insult, and had remembered them.  
  
Eclipse had never delved too deeply into Raenef's mind, aside from the  
  
casual brushing required for telepathy he had often employed. Of course, the  
  
dark-haired demon had always been aware that Raenef was far more sensitive than any other demon  
  
he had ever known, more sensitive than many of the humans he had come a crossed, in fact. It was  
  
only now though, after delving so deeply into Raenef's thoughts, experiencing his feelings as tough it  
  
were he who the feelings were springing from, that Eclipse had found a truly accurate gauge for how  
  
sensitive his master was.  
  
Despite that, though, Raenef had managed to come out of all that had happened to him, kind. Though  
  
Eclipse knew that kindness was not at all a redeemable quality in a demon lord, he found it, privately,  
  
amazing that Raenef could posses such a trait after all that had happened to him. A crossed the room,  
  
Raenef made a small, frantic sound. He twisted sharply, thrashing.  
  
The sheets tangled around his flailing form, ensnaring him so all he could do was gasp, and choke out  
  
wordless sounds.  
  
Eclipse walked hurriedly over to the bed. The dark-haired demon quickly and  
  
efficiently untangled his master. He hesitated a brief moment, staring down at  
  
Raenef's slender form, before sitting down on he edge of the bed, and  
  
gathering his master into his arms. It wasn't hard. Raenef was really very small,  
  
and didn't weigh much at all. He quietly quickly, once Eclipse wrapped his arms  
  
around the blue-haired demon, and began to slowly stroke that lovely hair.  
  
Raenef likes to have his hair stroked. I'll have to remember that.  
  
Absently, the dark-haired demon began to work at untangling the blue strands, once  
  
more. Raenef's renewed thrashing had undone his earlier work. Having his  
  
own, long hair, made Eclipse very good at such a thing. The task, he had often  
  
found, was soothing. It was also, Eclipse reflected, a rather good way to  
  
waste time until Raenef surfaced from his sleep spell.  
  
Consciousness  
  
wasn't too far off, for the demon lord. Not if he was beginning to dream.  
  
Eclipse frowned at another, quiet murmur of protest issued forth from Raenef's  
  
lips. Hesitantly, he nudged his way into the demon lord's mind, in an effort  
  
to banish the nightmare. It didn't require him to go deep, thankfully, he  
  
wasn't sure he could've after all that had happened today. Nonetheless, Eclipse  
  
was able to free Raenef from the nightmare he was undergoing.  
  
Slowly, the demon began to nudge him free from the magiced sleep.  
  
Raenef's mind obeyed his commands, willingly enough. All too soon, onyx eyes found  
  
themselves staring into beautiful azure, heavy lidded from sleep and an  
  
exhaustion so profound, it was in his very soul.  
  
Raenef blinked, slowly, dark lashes brushing against pale,  
  
tear-stained cheeks as dilated pupils struggled to focus on the face looming above him.  
  
Long, dark strands of silky hair brushed at his face, tickling his nose.  
  
Dark, silk...Eclipse... That thought jarred him from the gently hold sleep still  
  
had over him and Raenef came to full awareness abruptly.  
  
"Eclipse...what..?" His voice sounded confused. Quite suddenly, awareness spread over his  
  
features. Raenef went stark white. Admittedly, not a great change from his  
  
normally pale complexion but a noticeable one. All color drained completely  
  
from his face as he stared up at Eclipse in dawning horror. "No," he  
  
breathed, beginning to shake.  
  
Watching his lord, Eclipse could see the memo  
  
ries washing over his face. The pale blue eyes were true to the saying, "The  
  
eyes are a window to the soul." Raenef wore his heart on his sleeve, and  
  
Eclipse could see the emotions though them as though he were watching it happen  
  
before him. Eclipse could see the desperation welling up in those blue orbs,  
  
building rapidly to another panic attack.  
  
Eclipse seized him by the shoulders, staring deeply into the azure eyes.  
  
"Look at me, focus on me... We're fine, Raenef, we're safe... I won't let  
  
anything hurt you, I promise..."  
  
The soothing litany, constant, its rhythm unchanging, merely a continuous  
  
mantra looped in a calming cycle, seemed to soothe Raenef and draw him back  
  
from the point of hysteria. The soothing circles he rubbed on the small,  
  
slender back seemed to help as well. The dark-haired demon lost track of how long  
  
they must have sat there, with him murmuring words of comfort, and rubbing  
  
Raenef's back. It was long enough for the blue-haired demon's sobs to quiet to  
  
the occasional hiccup, and for the dampness of tears on his tunic to dry.  
  
Eclipse placed a long-nailed  
  
finger underneath Raenef's pale chin, and drew it gently upwards. Azure eyes were  
  
damp with tears, and the normally pale flesh surrounded them was red and  
  
swollen from crying.  
  
For a long time, they simply looked at one another. Finally the silence  
  
was broken by a softly whispered, "I'm sorry..."  
  
Instinctively, Eclipse opened his mouth to rebuke Raenef, chiding him for  
  
apologizing to a someone of a lower class, but those eyes stopped him.  
  
Raenef looked so very...tired.  
  
Well,  
  
of course he's tired, you fool. You just dredged up memories he had long  
  
since buried, and buried for a very good reason. Anyone would be tired after  
  
having been forced to relive such a thing.  
  
Eclipse sighed, "You needn't be sorry, Raenef..." Raenef? Since when have  
  
I stopped addressing him as Lord, or Master, or anything of the sort? It was  
  
only then that it occurred to Eclipse that, for quite some time now, he had  
  
been thinking of his master as simply Raenef, without any sort of term of  
  
respect. This was simply the first time he'd ever vocalized it. It seemed that  
  
entering the blue--haired demons mind, reliving so many of his memories, his  
  
thoughts, and sharing with him the most degrading experience of all, had softened  
  
the hardened dark-haired demon towards his master. "It was my fault  
  
entirely... I...should not have done that..."  
  
"What...what did you do?" Raenef whispered, blinking. He let his head  
  
fall against Eclipse's shoulder, too tired to hold it up anymore.  
  
"It is a skill I learned... It was originally developed to detect  
  
falsehoods, to sense if a person was lying, and, if such was the case, to force  
  
that person to yield the truth. However, over the years, it developed into a  
  
way to...probe, another's mind. That is what I did. I entered your mind."  
  
The speech came to him as naturally as breathing. Long ago, the dark-haired  
  
demon could vaguely recall having memorized it for one of his own teachers.  
  
The words that had been committed to memory so very long ago came to him  
  
naturally now. It was just like another lesson, he was teaching Raenef.  
  
The pale-haired demon shuddered slightly, burrowing his face further  
  
into the unresisting Eclipse. "Why did you...why did you...do that....?"  
  
Eclipse grimaced. "When I kissed you..." Inwardly, the  
  
part of him that had trained for so long under the idea of superiors, chafed at  
  
the thought of his advances against one of such a higher rank... "You  
  
looked...frightened... I wished to know what it was that had frightened you so... I  
  
thought it was me. I didn't want it to be, but I needed to know." Seemingly  
  
of it's own will, a long, slender hand reached up, toying idly with a stray  
  
strand of Raenef's hair.  
  
Raenef drew back, sharply, and Eclipse found himself missing that strand  
  
of blue hair. Wide, azure eyes stared up into his face, earnest, "No! It  
  
wasn't...you...it was... I thought I'd forgotten, I tried so hard to forget...  
  
But..." Raenef trailed off, and began biting at his lip in nervousness. He  
  
drew back completely, withdrawing all of his slight weight from Eclipse's lap,  
  
and setting back onto his own legs. Raenef's eyes fixed on the bedspread,  
  
while his hands toyed absently with a stray thread on his clothes. "It wasn't  
  
you, Eclipse. It's just that...it was so...and you...and then...that kiss and...and those memories."   
  
Raenef's voice trailed off into a whisper-sob. Eclipse felt his heart twisting as a crystalline tear fell from  
  
a too pale cheek and onto the comforter below.  
  
Eclipse felt bile rising in his throat, the knowledge of what he had seen making him feel sick.   
  
Raenef was still trembling from the memories Eclipse himself had unleashed, and Eclipse knew that he  
  
might have very well just shattered any attempts for Raenef and himself to ever be more than teacher  
  
and master.  
  
Eclipse knew very well that Raenef didn't hate him. After swimming in Raenef's thoughts,  
  
Eclipse had been left in disbelief when he realized that Raenef didn't even hate Genji and the gang that  
  
had beaten and raped him so brutally. Hate didn't seem to be an emotion Raenef was capable of. Still,  
  
the self-loathing and disgust present in Raenef's thoughts, all aimed at himself, had been so prominent  
  
Eclipse had almost felt as though he were drowning in them. Perhaps, some day when Raenef was able  
  
to work through what had been done to him, when Raenef could touch him, kiss him without being  
  
consumed by shame and revoltion, then they could be lovers. Until then, what would inevitably be a  
  
long, hard road, Eclipse would have to be the one to keep their "relationship" slow and strictly friendly.  
  
Eclipse stared down at the exposed arch of pale neck that Raenef presented him with and felt  
  
lust stirring at the completely submissive position. Eclipse grimaced, and shook off the feelings of  
  
desire. As he had spent more and more time with Raenef, Eclipse's own desire for the small boy had  
  
been building until it had reached a boiling point- the kiss, which had obviously resulted in complete  
  
disaster. Eclipse told his libido, quietly but firmly, to go to hell.   
  
Eclipse sighed quietly, reaching out to lift Raenef's chin to look the boy in the eyes. The  
  
emerald pools, normally bright and vibrant were made even more so by the tears pooling in them and  
  
slowly dripping down the demon lord's cheeks. "I'm sorry, little master. I didn't mean to cause you  
  
pain. Get some sleep. The morning always makes things look better." Leaning forward, Eclipse  
  
brushed blond bangs from the boy's forehead and pressed a gentle, fatherly kiss there, mentally  
  
murmmuring a spell that would carry the demon lord into a dreamless sleep.  
  
Eclipse sighed, lowering Raenef back onto the mounds of pillows in his bed and pulling the thick  
  
comforter over him. He smoothed the creases in the beavy blanket, absently. "Someday, Raenef. I  
  
hope, someday."   
  
  
  
faint blush crept up his pale neck, to flood his cheeks with warmth as he realized  
  
precisely what it was Eclipse was talking about. The pale haired demon  
  
realized he was dense, but he doubted even he could have missed the obvious hint,  
  
especially when Eclipse's voice deepened the way it did, becoming slightly  
  
huskier, more full of intimate promise... He'd heard that same tone used by  
  
members of the Guild, when they were making their play for the night. Several  
  
times, he'd even heard it directed at him. "Oh," the young teen whispered  
  
faintly.  
  
"Now, will you tell me...what happened?"  
  
Raenef cringed. There could be no mistaking what Eclipse was speaking  
  
of. He couldn't help the shiver that rippled through his slight form.  
  
"Yes...I'll tell you," the young demon whispered.  
  
"I grew up on the streets. I'm not sure about my parents. I only  
  
remember my mom, and even then only vaguely. I was really young when she left me.  
  
I don't know why she did..." Raenef trailed off, the old hurt tugging at  
  
him. "I met another orphan named Tristan. He was older than I was, and  
  
streetwise. He took pity on me, and helped me. If it wasn't for him, I probably woul  
  
dn't have lasted long. After a few years, Tristan was captured by the  
  
guards, and from what I heard, he was executed. I...tried to save him, but I  
  
couldn't. Up until then, Tristan had protected me from everyone else." Raenef gave  
  
a small shrug, avoiding looking Eclipse in the eyes.  
  
"Inevitably, you make enemies growing up on the streets. Whether its  
  
some shopkeeper you stole from one too many times, or another gang whose  
  
territory you cross into, but kids were afraid of Tristan. Nobody messed with him,  
  
and a lot of people didn't like me because they knew they couldn't touch me, or  
  
they'd answer to him. Genji and Tristan had been enemies even before I met  
  
him. I'm not sure what happened, but he and his gang were always watching us,  
  
even though they didn't dare do anything.  
  
"When Tristan got caught...Genji started to try and catch me whenever he  
  
could. But I was small, and fast, and I knew the streets better than anyone.  
  
Eventually though, he caught up with me... You know what happened. After..  
  
.that...Harek found me. The thief, the one with the bandanna and the scar. He  
  
was the leader of the guild, you remember, the one I went to try and save?"  
  
Raenef looked up at Eclipse, watching the dark-haired demons nod. "He took me  
  
in. The guild and Genji had been at odds for awhile, and they don't...resort  
  
to methods like Genji's willing to use. They take in any orphan who needs  
  
help, and train `em to learn to live on the streets. A year later, you found  
  
me," the young demon lord trailed off, with a whisper.  
  
**************************************************************** *************  
  
AN: Oh...my...god... I am...vaguely disgusted with myself. I have said  
  
countless of times (my friends can quote me on this) that angst has to be  
  
extraordinarily well written in order to make the reader feel sympathetic for the  
  
character, and not want to rip their head off  
  
instead...*coughwishesHarryPotterapainfulandagonizingdemizecough * It appears, I lack this gift  
  
entirely. I have  
  
just turned myself into a hypocrite. I want to go smack Raenef and tell him  
  
to stop being whiny... Urgh... Although, considering that rape scene was the  
  
first lemon I've ever attempted, I don't think I did too badly... Eh, well,  
  
whatever.. To whoever's reading this, review, and for the love of god make  
  
some suggestions, cause I have a feeling I need to go back and rewrite  
  
some...all...of this story.... By the way, I apologize immensely for this royally shitty job as far as  
  
formatting goes. My computer got taken in to be fix and everything had to be reloaded, but we're still  
  
missing a bunch of stuff, like on my Appleworks program, I can't save things under html or txt format or  
  
anything like that. So I've had to email myself this story, and upload it on a different computer, and the  
  
format got screwed up along the way. Hopefully my computer will be fixed soon so the formatting will  
  
be alright…until then, apologies!  
  
****************************************************************************************  
  
Hey hey hey! I'm baaaaaaaaaack! I had a baaad case of writer's block. The kind of great wall of China writer's case  
  
bad. Finally I took a chisel to it and...well this is the result. This chapter is mostly the same as the original up to  
  
about page 30 where it is COMPLETELY revamped. Chapter two will follow a similar idea. I'm rewriting as we speak  
  
and hopefully I'll be able to get the ball rolling. Lo and behold this time I think I have a PLOT!! Oh happy day. Oh  
  
yeah, special thanks to Judyoler. It was sooo great to hear from someone who liked this fanfic enough to hunt me  
  
down and go so far as to help make plot suggestions. I really needed someone to give me a nice kick and the ass  
  
and I wanted to thank you for being that person. 


	2. Cutting Ties

Bleeding Hearts Chapter Two: Cutting Ties By: Omnipresent  
  
AN: Disclaimer- don't own demon diary or the characters, no money being made...  
  
Eclipse stood outside on the balcony attached to Raenef's room. Not surprisingly, it was much larger than his own smaller, though by far adequate balcony. The comparison of balconies set the strange for nearly every difference between Eclipse's quarters, and those rooms belonging to Raenef. His own quarters weren't as extravagant as Raenef's, but they were lavish in their own rights. His bed as massive enough to fit several people his size with ease, and it was furnished with heavy brocade drapery, hung thickly over the posts to create drapes and a large canopy. Such decorations weren't normally to his style, but the dark-haired demon was willing to admit that the thick coverings were nice to be able to pull around his bed in the mornings, since his window faced east. Eclipse had no problem getting up early, when required of him, but as Raenef couldn't function in the morning, Eclipse had no desire to get up with the sun, and the curtains did allow him to continue sleeping. In comparison, Raenef's curtains were soft and light. Then again, Raenef's windows faced West. Privately, Eclipse thought it wouldn't have mattered if Raenef's windows faced east and he still had the curtains he had. The pale-haired boy could sleep through nearly anything, the dark-haired man had discovered early on. Various other pieces of furniture, like his desk, dresser, table, and other such things, were designed with the same opulence as the bed. Made from beautifully carved wood, stained a deep red, and carved with delicate designs, they were beautiful, but rather too ostentatious for his own tastes. The only things the demon was willing to admit to being fond of was the balcony that overlooked the courtyard, and the ridiculously large bathtub. The demon would kill himself before admitting to the fact publicly, but he liked being able to soak in blazingly hot water, especially since Raenef had come along. Being able to wallow in water that was practically scalding not only soothed away the days aches, mainly caused from Raenef's clumsiness and lack of care, but the constant tension he seemed to have in his back and shoulders, ever since he had brought Raenef back to the palace. The demon stood on his balcony, watching as the sun sank low in the horizon until it vanished behind a mountain, and the moon crested high in the sky, reclaiming the sky for her domain. The bright stars twinkled above him. Patience had always been something he had been good at. The wind picked up as time edged onwards, and the temperature dropped steadily. Still, Eclipse remained standing outside, observing. His long black hair twisted and twined through the air as the wind tugged on it, writhing with the strands in mid air. Though he could sense the drop in temperature, Eclipse was not troubled by it. Demons had more resistance to extremes of temperature than most evens, or even clerics did. Beyond that, Eclipse had long since trained himself to endure various climates and weather conditions. Only to himself was Eclipse willing to admit that he would have much rather gone inside where it was warmer and less irritating. That, of course, was his dilemma. Going back inside would mean going back into Raenef's room. After Raenef had told Eclipse the whole story, it had not taken long for the blond lord to dissolve into tears again. Oddly enough, they had been silent ones. No harsh sobs had wracked his slender form, no cries. Only pale, crystalline blue tears rolling down pale cheeks and dropping silently onto the comforter below. Eclipse had held him through his silent tears, and finally until the blond boy had fallen asleep. It had taken hours. His arms and legs had been numb by the time Raenef's mind had been lulled into blessed unconsciousness once more. The worst part about it, even worse than seeing those soundless tears, had been being able to pick up stray thoughts. Raenef's mind had kept drifting back to the night of his rape, reliving memories, thoughts, emotions... The young blonde's shields around his mind were still raw from Eclipse's forced penetration, and the emotions were so intense the dark-haired demon hadn't been able to block them out entirely. He still couldn't believe something like that had happened to Raenef. The blond teen had always come a crossed as being so innocent, so naive to the real world. Raenef was so gentle, and kind. How, Eclipse wondered, could someone experience what Raenef had endured first hand, and still come out in the end as Raenef had. Most would have been turned bitter, manipulative, and cruel by such an event. Yet Raenef had remained so kind that even when he had become a demon lord, he still could barely stomach the thought of using magic like the "death drill." He hadn't even been able to kill Erutis, the female knight who had come with every intention of slaughtering him! A soft, quiet mewl of pain came from the bedroom behind him. Eclipse turned quickly, heading inside. He shut the door softly behind him so as not to disturb his lord's sleep any further than he already had. Raenef was caught in the throes of a nightmare. Eclipse could catch vague flashes of it. Asleep, Raenef's mind was even more unguarded then awake, especially with his natural mental shields weak from Eclipse's earlier assault on them. In this state, the demon lord was projecting thoughts and images clearly into Eclipse's own head. He could block the brunt of it, but wisps still escaped past his own fortified shields. The blond was tossing and turning, tangling himself in his bed sheets. The more he entangled himself, the harder he thrashed and fought, murmuring incomprehensible words. Eclipse sat down beside his shuddering lord, and began to stroke the tangled hair. Just as he had earlier, Raenef quieted quickly under the soothing touch. He stopped squirming, and finally went still enough for Eclipse to carefully untangle him from his blankets. "Little master... I'm sorry for what I did... Now, more so then ever, it is my job to protect you." Eclipse couldn't help but think that, lying in the massive bed, swaddled in layers upon layers of blankets, the young blond looked so very small and helpless. The demon found himself wondering, not for the first time, how it was possible that such a small, innocent boy could be demon lord. How could anyone honestly expect him to be able to "wreak havoc, terrorize, torture, and terminate terribly?" For a moment, as he watched the small demon lord sleep, Eclipse was filled with such an intense surge of hatred, for anyone who could ever hurt someone so innocent Raenef was. Images of Genji and his gang, laughing at Raenef's pain and shame, came to him. Long-nailed fingers clenched into a fist as a wave of fury swept over him, and he remembered his words of promise. "I will kill them," he snarled, low in his throat. Eclipse leaned over, hesitantly, placing a gentle kiss on Raenef's sweating forehead as he laid a heavy sleep spell. The demon nudged at the tightly coiled mind as it slipped even deeper into unconsciousness, checking its progress. Finally Raenef's mind slid deep enough for him to feel comfortable, and Eclipse stood. So silently that he resembled a shadow more than any living, breathing being, the demon left the room behind him for the stretching halls of the palace.*******"Gooooooooodmooooooorning!" Erutis trilled in Raenef's ear in an effort to wake the sleeping demon lord. Raenef didn't even flinch, merely continued sleeping peacefully. Well, as peacefully as he could, Erutis mused, taking another glance at the position the demon lord lay in. His arms and legs were sprawled carelessly. It looked painful, the young knight though. The blankets had all bunched up, wrapping around his waist and halfway around one of his arms and face, so that only a few wild strands of blonde hair managed to escape. The demon lord's bed looked as though a tornado had passed over it. Erutis couldn't help but wonder what on earth the kid had been doing during the night, to make his bed look so completely messed up. Erutis sighed in annoyance at the problem presented to her. She knew, from overhearing Eclipse shouting at Raenef in rebuke for being late again, and Raenef in turn protesting that it wasn't his fault he was a really deep sleeper, that the boy could sleep through just about anything."Wakey, wakey," Erutis crooned, poking at the sleeping boy. Not even a hint of reaction. The knight's face scrunched up into a frown."Grrr...get up you lazy oaf! You=re worse than Chris!" the knight glowered. Erutis shook the slender shoulders that peaked through the blankets. Raenef grunted, and rolled over, succeeding in breaking her hold on him. "Ok, that's it then!" The girl fastened her hands on the blankets knotted tightly around Raenef's small form, and pulled with all her might. The blankets came free easily. Raenef, wrapped up in the bedclothes as he was, came along with them. With a loud thump, Raenef landed on the hard floor. Emerald eyes shot wide open, and a startled sound escaped from the young boy. "Hey!" Raenef protested at awaking to find himself on the floor. A chuckle startled him, and he looked up to find Erutis snickering at him." Sorry," the knight laughed. Raenef looked so very confused at being on the floor, she couldn't help her amusement. Really, it was just too funny. "You wouldn't wake up, so I kind of...well...pulled you out of bed, I guess." "That wasn't very nice," Raenef pouted, as he began to try and untangle himself from the blankets. It was rather difficult. He was wrapped in them tightly and they didn't want to let go. Despite his valiant struggle, it quickly became apparent he was fighting a losing battle. Erutis watched his slow progress with a raised eyebrow. "Geez, kid, what were you doing last night to get yourself so tangled up?" the young knight asked curiously. Raenef blinked emerald eyes as he stared down at the blankets. The demon lord didn't look at Erutis, as vague memories of his dreams assuaged him suddenly. Dreams? he thought, disgusted, More like nightmares. Raenef shook his head in answer to Erutis's question. "I don't really remember. Probably some stupid dream," he breathed. "Whatever," she said with a careless shrug. "I'm going, so you can get dressed or do whatever it is you do." The young knight bounced out of the room Raenef sighed, hauling himself free of the last of the stubborn blankets, kicking at them to get the cloth to relinquish him entirely. Erutis's innocent question, "What were you doing last night to get yourself so tangled up...? and his false answer. The young demon lord shivered, suddenly feeling cold, and wrapped his arms around himself. He felt dirty. Unclean. Used. He always did, after remembering what Genji and the others had done. He couldn't help but feel so. Shudders rippled acrossed his form uncontrollably and the young demon fled to the bathroom. Raenef yanked the hot water handle on the tub so hard he heard the caulking around it crack. Hot water surged forth from the faucet, steam billowing out into the bathroom. Within moments, Raenef could feel his shirt clinging to his damp skin. The hot dampness in the air tamed even his wild hair, the strands sticking to his flesh. Raenef yanked at his shirt, wanting to get it off, wanting to immerse himself in that boiling hot water, wanting to feel clean again, even though he knew fro experiance it wouldn't help. The humidity had made the fabric swell around them buttons, and his fingers were shaking too hard to be of much use anyway. The boy yanked at the shirt, eventually ripping off the buttons in his haste to get the cumbersome piece of clothing off. He all but threw himself into the bathtub. The water was hot. So very, very hot. He could almost feel his flesh burning as it made contact with the liquid. Oddly enough, he felt a sort of masochistic relief at the pain surging through his nerve endings. It made him feel cleansed, and the pain helped him keep his tenuous hold on the real world, not allowing him to slip back into the painful memories. He let the bathtub fill completely, up to his chin, before he turned off the hot water. Mechanically, he reached for the soap, beginning to clean his body thoroughly in a desperate yet futile attempt to purge the remembered filth from himself. He scrubbed at his pale flesh until it was raw and, in some places, bleeding from his intense effort. Part of him regretted the harshness, as the hot water burned the open wounds, but more of him felt it was completely necessary. Raenef began to sob, brokenly. "God, I'm acting like such a baby. And in front of Eclipse, to. He already thinks I'm a weak fool, and this is just going to reinforce that." What was worse, was that now, with those awful, horrible memories brought to the front of his mind once again, the thought of any sort of intimacy made him feel nauseous. Even the idea of looking at Eclipse, in any way to her than as his teacher, made Raenef want to lunge for the nearest toilet, and empty his stomach. Raenef wasn't even sure he could force himself to go to his lessons today. He didn't want to go and to have to sit while Eclipse talked about Wars and Battles and violence and death, and about how he was expected to not only play a role in such things, but to be the instigator. How could he, when he had been on the other end up such horrible things. Not to mention, having to sit under Eclipse's watchful, penetrating gaze, knowing that the older demon knew precisely what Raenef was thinking about. He didn't think that he could breathe scrutiny of that dark, fathomless gaze, that gaze that now knew his greatest moment of weakness. Eclipse was constantly berating him for his inability to do as a proper demon lord should. Raenef had tried to force himself to "wreak havoc, terrorize, torture, and terminate terribly" but the young demon simply couldn't. It wasn't in him to cause that sort of violence. Even when he had been with the guild, Raenef had had no desire for power. Now, for Eclipse to not only know that his student was an ultimate failure in terms of all demon lords, but for Eclipse to have seen what Genji and the others had done...Now Eclipse's beliefs that Raenef was a weakling were only supported. Poor Eclipse, Raenef though miserably. The great Eclipse, 3rd ranking, the perfect demon, chosen by the gods themselves to teach the new demon lord...and who does he get? Me. The demon lord who couldn't even kill the knight who was trying to kill him. Even Erutis thinks Eclipse needs to get a new demo lord. The only reason Eclipse hasn't abondoned me yet is because I'm the only one... He can't get another. Raenef splashed angrily at the water "It's not fair!" the young boy shouted. "It's not...fair," Raenef repeated, miserably. He sighed, and reached for one of the scattered bottles of shampoo. The one that smelled like rasberries. Eclipse had commented, once, while he was teaching, that he liked that smell. Raenef hadn't touched a different shampoo since that day. Automatically, he began to wash his hair, scrubbing at the blonde locks until they were slippery, and submerged his whole body into the deep bathtub. The conditioner, one that also smelled like rasberries, came next. The young demon lord emerged from his second dunking with his hair hanging like a curtain in front of his face. Gasping in water, he hurriedly tossed it back, wincing at the thuds the water droplets made as they hit the wall. He'd have to wipe up the mess later, something he hated doing. Raenef stared at a strand of pale hair, stroking it and twisting it in his hands absent-mindedly. After Genji, he'd shorn it all off. The boy couldn't stand the wild tumble of hair. Several times during the...incident-Raenef struggled to call it "rape," somehow that only seemed to make it more real- they had commented on his hair, burying their faces in it, laughing at how it made him more "feminine," and a better screw... Feeling slightly sick and unable to stop the sudden surge of memories, Raenef recalled every moment someone had buried their face in his hair, stroked it, touched it, commented on it... Shivering, Raenef forced himself from the repulsive thought, continuing to fumble with the pale strands. It had been cut so short, in places there were bald spot speaking through. He hadn't been particularly careful where or how he was cutting, just knowing he wanted it off. It had taken years to grow back, and even now it wasn't as long as it had been. By the time it had grown long enough for him to notice, he'd had enough time to begin to put everything behind him, and he'd missed his hair. Even if it did make him look like a porcupine, and had some bad memories with it. The young demon rinsed his hair again and abandoned the water, which was starting to cool anyway. He still didn't feel clean, but he didn't want to wait for the water to drain, and refill it again. Not to mention, he thought, glancing at his hands, that he was beginning to prune rather badly. He hefted himself out of the tub after yanking at the plug, and pulled a fluffy towel off the rack. Oddly enough, there were always towels waiting for him. It didn't matter how many he used in a day, nor that he had never replaced them. But they were always there when he got out of the bathtub. Whenhe'd asked Eclipse about it, and other such occurrences, the demon had saidsomething about servants. When Raenef had in turn, asked the demon why he hadnever seen them, Eclipse had gone off into an achingly long spiel about spellsand incantations and such. Raenef, his head spinning after the talk, hadn'tbothered asking again.Raenef pressed the white towel to his nose, smelling deeply. He likedthe way they always smelled. Clean, and fresh, and just washed. Not to mentionhow soft and huge they were. A single towel covered his whole body, fromshoulders to knees, without any problems, and would probably wrap around himthree times if he tried. Admittedly, he had once, attempted, to see how manytimes he could encircle himself with in it, and subsequently, had not only nearlybroken his leg, the faucet on the bathtub, and half of the bottles around the bathroom, but had been entangled in it for three hours before, horror of allhorrors, Eclipse had come to see what was delaying his master for s long, andfreed Raenef in seconds.He hadn't been able to look at the handsome demon in the eye for severaldays.Raenef sighed, and headed into his bedroom. The majority of his clotheswere scattered a crossed the floor. Interesting, since the servants seemed tobe able to replace towels, ensure soap and other body washes never ran out, andother such things, but never ever picked up his clothes, or the mess of waterhe tended to leave lying in puddles a crossed the bathroom floor. Raenef hada sneaking suspicion, that, after learning of his lord's predisposition to notpick up his clothes, had commanded the servants not to do so, either. Only, itseemed, when said clothes had been scooped up off the floor, and placed in aneat, orderly pile by the door, would they ever seem to vanish, andmysteriously return, perfectly clean and smelling of soap.Raenef hadn't gotten dangerously low enough on clothes to force himselfto clean them up, just yet. In fact, he still had several outfits that he hadonly worn a day or two, and even, he was fairly sure, one that hadn't beenworn yet.Kicking various items of clothing out of his path, the demon lord stoppedin front of his dresser, pulling the door open. There was a lump of clothesat the bottom. At one time, when he had first arrived, in fact, he had openedthe wardrobe door to fine a neat line of beautiful clothes. It hadn't evenbeen three hours before they had all ended up on the floor, in various stagesof disarray. He'd never bothered to hang any of them back up again Whybother, was Raenef's logic, when you're simply going to be taking them off to wearanyway, and then tossing them on the floor. It saved a few steps, afterall,right? He picked a shirt and set of pants that seemed to match well enough, andpulled them on over his body.The fabric clung to his skin in the way only dry clothes can stick toskin still damp from a shower. It took a rather impressive series of contorsionsto pull the clothes on. By the time he was fully dressed, Raenef was pantingfrom exertion, and felt like he was sweating enough to need another shower.Not to mention his hair, which was already frizzy from the shower, wassticking up at random places, making him resemble a giant walking cottonball.It took him another 20 minutes of wrestling with his hair brush to get it asflat as it was going to go, and even then it was only after a handful ofconditioner. Raenef sighed, tugging on a wayward strand of hair in annoyance, beforeshoving it all into a ponytail. Raenef paced, buying as much time ashe thought he could. He wandered aimlessly back and forth acrossed his roomfor the next fifteen minutes, as much time as he felt he could legitematelygive himself. Besides, as embaressing as it was going to be to have to faceEclipse, it would be even more embarassing for the older demon to have to comelooking for him. Raenef wanted, at thevery least, to be able to face Eclipse on his own terms, to be able to decidewhen and where their meeting would take place. It would give him a sense ofcontrol, something he needed desperately after what had happened yesterday.Raenef wandered down the halls, going slower then he usually would have.Normally, he would have flung himself in a head long rush down the corridorsin hopes of managing to make it class on time, and subsequentally, avoid thelecture Eclipse always had ready for him for whever he was late.  
  
****  
  
Eclipse closed the massive ebony doors that led to his bedroom behind him. The sudden darkness of his room made him stop. His eyes had adjusted to the dim, moonlit corridors of the Raenef Palace, but his room was much darker since the moonlight wasn=t able to pierce the thick, heavy drapes hanging in front of his floor-length windows.  
  
Eclipse thought suddenly, that in comparison to Raenef=s own room, his own was rather dull and dark in comparison. The demon found himself missing his lord=s room.  
  
AWell, you certainly fucked up,@ said a voice that would have been almost feminine if not for the haughty tone that colored it.   
  
Eclipse whirled around so fast his pony tail came back to whip in him in the face. Eclipse blinked, brushing the dark-haired strands from his mouth. AKrayon?!@ he demanded, incredulously, squinting into the darkness. Of course it was Krayon. Even in the bad lighting Eclipse was quite certain no one else had Krayon=s odd, horribly kinked hair that seemed to create a halo around him that extended several feet. Not to mention that Krayon was floating several feet above the ground, his legs folded, a position Eclipse recognized.   
  
Sure enough, a slender hand lifted to toss a few strands of wild hair over Krayon=s shoulder, a motion that Krayon employed quite often. AWell, now, Eclipse, that=s not a very nice way to greet me.@ The words were almost a pout.  
  
Eclipse folded his arms around his lanky form and scowled at the demon lord. AHow did you get in here? The palace is warded.@ Eclipse=s mind was already working ahead. Although the grounds themselves were protected, they weren=t protected as heavily as the castle itself which should have kept out any demon lord aside from Raenef himself attempting to enter. Indeed, if Krayon had gotten in then there could very well be a weakness in the shielding. If that was the case then he certainly needed to fix it.  
  
Krayon rolled his eyes slightly and stepped down onto the ground. AWhat do you think, Eclipse? Honestly, as revered as you yourself might be, and as good a teacher I=m sure you are, your lord is quite obviously not up to par. The wards on this palace are adequate, perhaps, to keep someone of a lower rank out, but without Raenef himself able to help them along, I was able to get in quite easily.@  
  
Eclipse scowled at the implied insult to his lord and the well hidden jab at himself. AThat still doesn=t give you the right to come waltzing into the palace of another demon lord as you please,@ he snapped, irritated.  
  
Krayon had turned from Eclipse and was bending over one of the larger pieces of furniture in the room- a heavy, ebony desk scattered with things Eclipse had accumulated over the years. Currently the blond was prodding a small, metal box. At Eclipse=s tone, he rose from his bent position to arch an eyebrow at the dark haired demon. AOf course it does, Eclipse. You know as well as I do that if a demon lord isn=t powerful enough to make demons obey him, then they don=t have to. You should consider yourself lucky that nobody has attempted a power grab. Raenef is pathetically weak. I=ve been more than leinient in regards to the child.@ Krayon walked over to the desk nestled in a corner of the room, trailing fingers over the covers of the many books stacked upon it.  
  
That desk was Eclipse=s only condescension to messiness and disorder. Eclipse himself was naturally a very organized person, a trait he valued considerably. The desk was the only exception in his otherwise carefully arranged room. Papers were scattered messily a crossed, so deep that you couldn=t see the ebony wood beneath. Pens, pencils, and other writing tools that had once, perhaps a very long time ago, actually had a container, had long since resigned themselves to being scattered a crossed the desk.   
  
Eclipse stepped forward firmly, inserting his body between Krayon=s own and the desk. The fact that he was able to stare down into the higher ranking demon=s green eyes added to his boldness. Normally, Eclipse would not have confronted the demon lord so adamantly, but considering the situation- Krayon had entered a demon lord=s palace without Raenef=s knowledge, and then barged into his own quarters- Eclipse felt he had more than enough reason to challenge Krayon. AWhat is it you want, Krayon?@ he demanded sharply.  
  
AHmmm...Such an...interesting question,@ the blond murmurred thoughtfully, pale green eyes raking up and down Eclipse=s body in a way that left no doubt in Eclipse=s mind as to what Ainteresting@ entailed.  
  
If it was possible, Eclipse felt himself growing even more angry. It was not like him, not at all, to lose his control so easily. Krayon, however, had always been able to bring out the worst in him. Apparently, his feelings showed clearly in his eyes because Krayon met them evenly before grinning. AAh, ah, ah now. Don=t get angry at me. There was a time when you would have been flattered by my attentions,@ Krayon murmurred, his voice dropping ever so slightly as, instead of stepping away in response to Eclipse=s challenging stance, he moved closer. Closely enough to press flush against Eclipse=s body.  
  
Despite himself, Eclipse felt long forgotten desire stirring inside him. His mind may have realized the idiocy of such things, but his body had not forgotten the way that Krayon had felt, pressed against him, straining, twisting, writhing... Eclipse snarled internally at himself and pulled himself straighter. Despite his efforts, Eclipse could see the triumph lighting up Krayon=s green eyes. They had been lover=s for several decades, though it had been many, many centuries ago, but demon=s possessed memories to suit their long life spans and Krayon remembered very well precisely how to get to Eclipse.  
  
The blond demon pressed even closer and reached up to wrap his arms around Eclipse=s neck. AI would have thought you would have appreciated this. I saw the way you watched him. That young demon lord of yours, however pretentious the title may be. You used to watch me that way.@ Krayon nearly pouted, his full, red lips pressing together in a way Eclipse knew was purposely meant to be seductive. And however he might be determined to resist, it was difficult with Krayon=s body pressed tightly against his own and the blond haired demon set about to seduce him. AAnd now it seems you=ve completely destroyed any chances you might have had with him, I thought you might be in need of some company.@ Krayon=s voice was all but a purr as he leaned up to pressed his lips lightly against Eclipse=s throat. "You must know, he'll never give you what I can. He's just a child, Eclipse."  
  
Despite himself, Eclipse felt his eyes closing. Heat flooded through his body as forgotten feelings surged. Automatically, Eclipse dropped his hands to rest on the slender curve of Krayon=s hips, helping to steady the older demon.   
  
Krayon grinned triumphantly as he felt long nailed fingers settled against his hips. Eclipse had always left a lasting impression on him. The dark haired demon was easily among the best lovers he had ever taken, and he had had many. Somehow, Eclipse made his aloof almost coldness transform into brilliant, white hot heat in bed. In all reality, Krayon supposed the true reason he found Eclipse so attractive was very simple. Unlike the other lover=s he=d had, Eclipse had never succumbed to his chairs. For the years they had been lovers, Eclipse had always remained distant. That had been something completely new to Krayon who was used to having lovers fall in love with him easily. Eclipse was a challenge, one that he had never conquered, and that fact had always irked him.  
  
When he had searched out the dark haired demon only to find him serving Raenef V- a pathetic excuse of a demon, he had seen an opportunity to gain the dark-haired demon back. Eclipse had always been powerful with a zealous to learn more and become more powerful, and Krayon couldn=t believe that the dark haired demon would turn down his offer to serve as his advisor. After all, Krayon was one of the five oldest and most powerful demons, certainly a step up from the pathetic child that Eclipse was currently suffering under.  
  
He had been utterly shocked when Eclipse had not only turned down his offer, but stepped up to defend his lord and master. That in itself was somewhat ridiculous. Eclipse shouldn=t have had to defend Raenef. Raenef should have been able to do it himself. Yet Eclipse had stepped in to save the boy and then the answer had smacked him in the face. He=d seen that look on Eclipse=s face often enough when they had been lovers, except there had been a depth to it that he had never seen.  
  
After the events of the day when Krayon had returned home, he had had time to reconsider the look. Then it had hit him and he had spent the next several hours laughing in amusement at the situation his ice cold lover had gotten himself into. Eclipse, demon famed for his cruelty in the Hangma wars, had fallen in love with his considerably weaker and kinder lord. It was perhaps the greatest of ironies.   
  
Krayon tilted his head to get a better angle at the little spot just behind Eclipse=s ear that he had discovered so long ago. Sure enough, it had the same effect now as it had hundred=s of years ago. Eclipse moaned fiercely, pulling Krayon tighter against him, and any remaining resistance in the dark haired demon=s body fled. Krayon paused a moment to reflect triumphantly before he lost himself to the rising waves of pleasure.  
  
*****************************************************************************  
  
*********************"Goooooooood mooooooorning!" Erutis trilled in Raenef's ear in an effort to wake the sleeping demon lord. Raenef didn't even flinch, merely continued sleeping peacefully. Well, as peacefully as he could, Erutis mused, taking another glance at the position the demon lord lay in. His arms and legs were sprawled carelessly. It looked painful, the young knight though. The blankets had all bunched up, wrapping around his waist and halfway around one of his arms and face, so that only a few wild strands of blonde hair managedto escape. The demon lord's bed looked as though a tornado hadpassed over it. Erutis couldn't help but wonder what on earth the kid had beendoing during the night, to make his bed look so completely messed up.Erutis sighed in annoyance at the problem presented to her. She knew,from overhearing Eclipse shouting at Raenef in rebuke for being late again, andRaenef in turn protesting that it wasn't his fault he was a really deepsleeper, that the boy could sleep through just about anything."Wakey, wakey," Erutis crooned, poking at the sleeping boy.Not even a hint of reaction. The knight's face scrunched up into a frown."Grrr...get up you lazy oaf!" the knight glowered. Erutis shook the slendershoulders that peaked through the blankets. Raenef grunted, androlled over, succeeding in breaking her hold on him. "Ok, that's it then!" Thegirl fastened her hands on the blankets knotted tightly around Raenef's smallform, and pulled with all her might. The blankets came free easily. Raenef,wrapped up in the bedclothes as he was, came along with them. With a loudthump, Raenef landed on the hard floor.Emerald eyes shot wide open, and a startled sound escaped from theyoung boy. "Hey!" Raenef protested at awaking to find himself on the floor. Achuckle startled him, and he looked up to find Erutis snickering at him."Sorry," the knight laughed. Raenef looked so veryconfused at being on the floor, she couldn't help her amusement. Really, itwas just too funny. "You wouldn't wake up, so I kinda...well...pulled you outof bed, I guess." "That wasn't very nice," Raenefpouted, as he began to try and untangle himself from the blankets. It wasrather difficult. He was wrapped in them tightly and they didn't want to let go.Despite his valient struggle, it quickly became apparent he was fighting aloosing battle. Erutis watchedhis slow progress with a raised eyebrow. "Geez, kid, what were you doing lastnight to get yourself so tangled up?" the young knight asked curiously.Raenef blinked emerald eyes as he stared down at the blankets. The demonlord didn't look at Erutis, as vague memories of his dreams assauged himsuddenly. Dreams? he thought, disgusted, More like nightmares.Raenef shook his head in answer to Erutis's question. "I don'treally remember. Probably some stupid dream," he breathed."Whatever," she said with a careless shrug. "I'm going, so you can getdressed or do whatever it is you do." The young knight bounced out of theroom Raenef sighed, hauling himself free of the last of thestubborn blankets, kicking at them to get the cloth to relinquish him entirely.Erutis's innocent question, "What were you doing last night to get yourselfso tangled up...? and his false answer. The young demon lord shivered,suddenly feeling cold, and wrapped his arms around himself. He feltdirty. Unclean. Used. He always did, after remembering what Genji and theothers had done. He couldn't help but feel so. Shudders rippled acrossed hisform uncontrollably and the young demon fled to the bathroom.Raenef yanked the hot water handle on the tub so hard he heard the caulkingaround it crack. Hot water surged forth from the faucet, steam billowing outinto the bathroom. Within moments, Raenef could feel his shirt clinging to hisdamp skin. The hot dampness in the air tamed even his wild hair, the strandssticking to his flesh.Raenef yanked at his shirt, wanting to get it off, wanting to immersehimself in that boiling hot water, wanting to feel clean again, even though heknew fro experiance it wouldn't help. The humidity had made the fabric swellaround the buttons, and his fingers were shaking too hard to be of much useanyway. The boy yanked at the shirt, eventually ripping off the buttons in hishaste to get the cumbersome piece of clothing off. He all but threwhimself into the bathtub. The water was hot. So very, very hot. He couldalmost feel his flesh burning as it made contact with the liquid. Oddly enough,he felt a sort of masochistic relief at the pain surging through his nerveendings. It made him feel cleansed, and the pain helped him keep his tenuoushold on the real world, not allowing him to slip back into the painful memories.He let the bathtub fill completely, up to his chin, before he turned offthe hot water. Mechanically, he reached for the soap, beginning to clean hisbody thoroughly in a desperate yet futile attempt to purge the rememberedfilth from himself. He scrubbed at his pale flesh until it was raw and, in someplaces, bleeding from his intense effort. Part of him regretted the harshness,as the hot water burned the open wounds, but more of him felt it wascompletely necessary.Raenef began to sob, brokenly. "God, Raenef, grow up. Stop crying, you fool. You=re a demon lord, not some kid anymore. Start acting like one!"  
  
What was worse, was that now, with those awful,horrible memories brought to the front of his mind once again, the thought of anysort of intimacy made him feel nauseosus. Even the idea of looking at Eclipse,in any way other than as his teacher made Raenef want to lunge for thenearest toilet, and empty his stomach.Raenef wasn't even sure he could force himself to go to his lessonstoday. He didn't want to go and to have to sit while Eclipse talked about Wars andBattles and violence and death, and about how he was expected to not onlyplay a role in such things, but to be the instigator. How could he, when he hadbeen on the other end up such horrible things? Not to mention having to situnder Eclipse's watchful, penetrating gaze, knowing that the older demon knewprecisely what Raenef was thinking about. He didn't think that he could bearthe scrutiny of that dark, fathomless gaze; that gaze that now knew hisgreatest moment of weakness.Eclipse was constantly berating him for his inability to do as a properdemon lord should. Raenef had tried to force himself to "wreak havoc,terrorize, torture, and terminate terribly" but the young demon simply couldn't. Itwasn't in him to cause that sort of violence. Even when he had been with theguild, Raenef had had no desire for power. Now, for Eclipse to not only kowthat his student was an ultimate failure in terms of all demon lords, but forEclipse to have seen what Genji and the others had done...Now Eclipse's beliefs that Raenef was a weakling were only supported. PoorEclipse, Raenef though miserably. The great Eclipse, 3rd ranking, the perfectdemon, chosen by the gods themselves to teach the new demon lord...and who doeshe get? Me. The demon lord who couldn't even kill the knight who was tryingto kill him. Even Erutis thinks Eclipse needs to get a new demo lord. Theonly reason Eclipse hasn't abondoned me yet is because I'm the only one... Hecan't get another. Raenef splashed angrily at the water."It's not fair!" the young boy shouted. "It's not...fair," Raenefrepeated, miserably. He sighed, and reached for one of the scattered bottles ofshampoo. The one that smelled like rasberries. Eclipse had commented, once,while he was teaching, that he liked that smell. Raenef hadn't touched adifferent shampoo since that day. Automatically, he began to wash his hair,scrubbing at the blonde locks until they were slippery, and submerged his whole bodyinto the deep bathtub. The conditioner, one that also smelled like rasberries,came next. The young demon lord emerged from his seconddunking with his hair hanging like a curtain in front of his face. Gasping inwater, he hurriedly tossed it back, wincing at the thuds the water dropletsmade as they hit the wall. He'd have to wipe up the mess later, something hehated doing. Raenef stared at a strandof pale hair, stroking it and twisting it in his hands absent-mindedly.After Genji, he'd shorn it all off. The boy couldn't stand the wild tumble ofhair. Several times during the...incident-Raenef struggled to call it "rape,"somehow that only seemed to make it more real- they had commented on hishair, burying their faces in it, laughing at how it made him more "feminine," anda better screw... Feeling slgihtly sick and unable to stopthe sudden surge of memories, Raenef recalled every moment someone had buriedtheir face in his hair, stroked it, touched it, commented on it... Shivering,Raenef forced himself from the repulsive thought, continuing to fumble withthe pale strands. It had been cut so short, in places there were bald spotspeaking through. He hadn't been particularly careful where or how he wascutting, just knowing he wanted it off.It had taken years to grow back, and even now it wasn't as long as it hadbeen. By the time it had grown long enough for him to notice, he'd hadenough time to begin to put everything behind him, and he'd missed his hair. Evenif it did make him look like a porcupine, and had some bad memories with it.The young demon rinsed his hair again and abandoned the water, which wasstarting to cool anyway. He still didn't feel clean, but he didn't want towait for the water to drain, and refill it again. Not to mention, he thought,glancing at his hands, that he was beginning to prune rather badly.He hefted himself out of the tub after yanking at the plug, and pulled afluffy towel off the rack. Oddly enough, there were always towels waitingfor him. It didn't matter how many he used in a day, nor that he had neverreplaced them. But they were always there when he got out of the bathtub. Whenhe'd asked Eclipse about it, and other such occurrences, the demon had saidsomething about servants. When Raenef had in turn, asked the demon why he hadnever seen them, Eclipse had gone off into an achingly long spiel about spellsand incantations and such. Raenef, his head spinning after the talk, hadn'tbothered asking again.Raenef pressed the white towel to his nose, smelling deeply. He likedthe way they always smelled. Clean, and fresh, and just washed. Not to mentionhow soft and huge they were. A single towel covered his whole body, fromshoulders to knees, without any problems, and would probably wrap around himthree times if he tried. Admittedly, he had once, attempted, to see how manytimes he could encircle himself with in it, and subsequently, had not only nearlybroken his leg, the faucet on the bathtub, and half of the bottles around the bathroom, but had been entangled in it for three hours before, horror of allhorrors, Eclipse had come to see what was delaying his master for s long, andfreed Raenef in seconds.He hadn't been able to look at the handsome demon in the eye for severaldays.Raenef sighed, and headed into his bedroom. The majority of his clotheswere scattered a crossed the floor. Interesting, since the servents seemed tobe able to replace towels, ensure soap and other body washes never ran out, andother such things, but never ever picked up his clothes, or the mess of waterhe tended to leave lying in puddles a crossed the bathroom floor. Raenef hada sneaking suspicion, that, after learning of his lord's predisposition to notpick up his clothes, had commanded the servants not to do so, either. Only, itseemed, when said clothes had been scooped up off the floor, and placed in aneat, orderly pile by the door, would they ever seem to vanish, andmysteriously return, perfectly clean and smelling of soap.Raenef hadn't gotten dangerously low enough on clothes to force himselfto clean them up, just yet. In fact, he still had several outfits that he hadonly worn a day or two, and even, he was fairly sure, one that hadn't beenworn yet.Kicking various items of clothing out of his path, the demon lord stoppedin front of his dresser, pulling the door open. There was a lump of clothesat the bottom. At one time, when he had first arrived, in fact, he had openedthe wardrobe door to fine a neat line of beautiful clothes. It hadn't evenbeen three hours before they had all ended up on the floor, in various stagesof disarray. He'd never bothered to hang any of them back up again Whybother, was Raenef's logic, when you're simply going to be taking them off to wearanyway, and then tossing them on the floor. It saved a few steps after all,right? He picked a shirt and set of pants that seemed to match well enough, andpulled them on over his body.The fabric clung to his skin in the way only dry clothes can stick toskin still damp from a shower. It took a rather impressive series of contorsionsto pull the clothes on. By the time he was fully dressed, Raenef was pantingfrom exertion, and felt like he was sweating enough to need another shower.Not to mention his hair, which was already frizzy from the shower, wassticking up at random places, making him resemble a giant walking cottonball.It took him another 20 minutes of wrestling with his hair brush to get it asflat as it was going to go, and even then it was only after a handful ofconditioner. Raenef sighed, tugging on a wayward strand of hair in annoyance, beforeshoving it all into a ponytail. Raenef paced, buying as much time ashe thought he could. He wandered aimlessly back and forth a crossed his roomfor the next fifteen minutes, as much time as he felt he could legitimatelygive himself. Besides, as embarrassing as it was going to be to have to face Eclipse, it would be even more embarrassing for the older demon to have to come looking for him. Raenef wanted, at thievery least, to be able to face Eclipse on his own terms, to be able to decide when and where their meeting would take place. It would give him a sense of control, something he needed desperately after what had happened yesterday. Raenef wandered down the halls, going slower then he usually would have. Normally, he would have flung himself in a head long rush down the corridors in hopes of managing to make it class on time, and subsequently, avoid the lecture Eclipse always had ready for him for whenever he was late.  
  
Raenef grimaced as he looked at the clock one more time. AOh, I am so late,@ he moaned. As if things were not already going to be awkward between Eclipse and himself, now he was late. Raenef took off at a run, sprinting down the hallways towards the study. The demon lord skidded around the corner and...  
  
Straight into a door.  
  
AOUCH!@ Raenef managed to choke out. The demon lord fell back onto the ground with a groan. How typical, the boy sulked as he pushed himself off the ground and opened the door. Raenef hesitantly poked his head in the door way. AEclipse?@ he called, hesitant.   
  
There was no answer. Raenef went into the study, more than a little surprised when he didn=t see Eclipse anywhere. Eclipse was...late? But that was unheard of. In the months since he=d become the demon lord Raenef had never known Eclipse to not be on time for something.   
  
*****************************************************************************  
  
Eclipse blinked rather blearily, only to shut them rapidly as a small sliver of light shone directly into the sensitive orbs. The demon groaned and buried his head back into his pillow. It took a minute for the demon to reorientate himself. His entire body felt like it did after a good fight- relaxed. He was exhausted though, despite the amount of sleep he=d obviously have, if he was to judge the time by the light shining through his drapes.  
  
Light?  
  
Eclipse sat bolt upright in realization of the time. Or at least, he tried to. The demon found his movement restrained by the weight of a strong arm wrapped around his waist, keeping him close to the warm body behind him.  
  
Eclipse=s eyes widened in realization and he froze, not wanting to turn and confirm his worst fears. Oh, no. Please no. Tell me I wasn=t so foolish, not after that disaster with Lord Raenef. Despite his efforts, his head turned to look down at the sleeping form curled next to him. He didn=t even get far enough to sleep past a cascade of wild, gold hair that streamed over the blankets by his thigh. Eclipse groaned out loud.  
  
AGood morning to you too, lover,@ said a voice husky with sleep. Eclipse turned the rest of the way towards Krayon, meeting emerald eyes fogged with sleep. The demon=s blond hair tumbled around him in disarray. Even Eclipse had to admit, Krayon certainly made a pretty picture. Of course, he always had. Eclipse wouldn=t deny that. The problems between them had always arisen when they tried to move beyond simple giving and receiving of pleasure. They were both too similar, and yet too different to ever be more than lovers.  
  
Eclipse sighed. AGood morning, Krayon,@ he offered in return even as he fought to detangle himself from the sheets.  
  
AHmmm...@ Krayon raised himself to his elbows, watching as Eclipse strode naked a crossed the room to a bureau. Krayon=s eyes traced the lean muscles flexing in that positively lovely backside as the demon moved. He could feel the pleasant twinges in his own muscles as he moved, testament to last night. Eclipse certainly hadn=t let his skills get rusty in the many years since they=d been lovers. AYes, it is a good morning, isn=t it? A good morning after an even better night.@  
  
Eclipse pulled out a simple, black robe and slid neatly into it. He tugged his long black hair free from beneath the neckline, grimacing as he worked at the tangles. At Krayon=s words, however, he blinked and turned back to face his lover. AI=m not certain that would be wise.@  
  
Krayon full out pouted, somehow making it look sexy. AWhen will you learn, Eclipse? It=s not about whether it=s wise or not. It=s about whether it=s fun or not. That=s always been your problem, you know. Overanalyzation!@ Krayon declared firmly, pronouncing each syllable with relish.  
  
Eclipse sighed and turned away from the blond haired demon as he fastened his hair. AGood bye, Krayon,@ he said firmly, and murmured the word, AGo!"  
  
Krayon frowned at the abrupt departure. "Eclipse, Eclipse, Eclipse. What am I going to do with you?" The blonde demon sighed and stood. Absently he walked over to the dresser, picking up a brush and running it through his tangled hair. He figured that, considering the liberties Eclipse had taken with his body last night, the least the lower ranking demon could do was to allow him to borrow his hair brush.   
  
Krayon grinned suddenly as he waved his fingers, feeling his clothes appear on him. Life was so much easier as a high ranking demon lord. "You shouldn't dismiss me so easily, Eclipse. I'll most certainly be back. I've missed what we had together just a bit too much."  
  
Hmmm...this formatting is royally screwed up. I don't know why it's gone through and started plugging random words together, but it has. It has also meshed what used to be nicely paragraphed sentences into a big, hulking mess. Oh well. It's 1:37 AM on a school night and I just can't bring myself to care. Maybe later I'll fix it. Night. 


End file.
